Elon Musk’s X is reportedly pursuing a fundraising round that would value the company at $44 billion – the same price the billionaire paid to acquire the site formerly known as Twitter in October 2022.
The discussions with investors have yet to conclude and the specifics of a potential round could change, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The possible move would mark the first time that Musk has raised money for X since he took the company private after the acquisition, which collapsed in value as the world’s richest man cleaned house at the company.
As recently as December, Fidelity Investments had marked down its stake in X by 72% since the acquisition.
X representatives did not immediately return a request for comment.
Controversial changes at X under Musk’s leadership included sweeping rounds of layoffs and loosened content moderation rules that turned off some users and prompted an exodus of advertisers.
Musk also rolled out a “premium” subscription service that includes “blue checkmark” account verification and access to his artificial intelligence startup xAI’s “Grok” chatbot.
X has a roughly $6 billion stake in xAI – which is currently looking to raise money at a $75 billion valuation. Musk’s AI firm directly competes with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
In a sign that X’s fortunes were on the rebound, banks led by Morgan Stanley sold a major chunk of debt tied to Musk’s acquisition last week that had lingered on their books since the sale.
The off-loading of the debt was seen as an indicator that X’s revenue has stabilized.
Musk admitted in October 2022 that he was “obviously overpaying” to buy the social media platform.
He billionaire briefly attempted to back out of the acquisition, but ultimately followed through after Twitter sued him to adhere to the deal.
The possible $44 billion valuation emerges as Musk publicly feuds with OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
After Musk made an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI last week, Altman replied by sarcastically claiming that he would buy X for just $9.74 billion.
Musk had billed his Twitter deal as an “accelerant” for his plans to turn X into an “everything app.” In January, he unveiled payments to launch an online payment system called “X Money” later this year.
Musk’s entire portfolio has surged since the presidential election as investors bet that his close ties to the Trump administration will benefit his business empire.
Aside from owning X, he leads Tesla and SpaceX.
He has frequently appeared alongside Trump at the White House and unofficially leads the Department of Government Efficiency, which is tasked with slashing federal waste.
Overall, Musk’s net worth is currently hovering near $400 billion – up from about $262 billion last Nov. 1, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Credit: Source link
