In a startling financial downturn, the social media company once known as Twitter, and now rebranded to ‘X’ by its new owner Elon Musk, has seen its value decrease by a staggering 71% since its acquisition. Musk acquired Twitter for $44bn in October 2022 and renamed the platform X in July 2023. Fidelity’s estimate would place the value of X at about $12.5bn.
The mutual fund Fidelity, a stakeholder in X Holdings, revealed this significant markdown in the value of its shares in a disclosure reported by Axios. Fidelity’s assessment comes after a tumultuous year for the platform, which witnessed a 15% drop in monthly users and a wave of major companies pulling their advertising in response to Musk’s controversial public statements and policy changes on the site.
The steep decline in the company’s value highlights the challenges X has encountered under Musk’s stewardship. After taking over, Musk made significant cuts to the workforce, slashing at least 50% of the staff and reducing moderation. This triggered concerns over a rise in hate speech and a subsequent warning from the European Union after discovering a high ratio of disinformation posts on the platform. It’s worth noting that X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on these developments.
The situation for X further deteriorated when Musk publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory, prompting a number of advertisers to boycott the platform. Musk’s response to the boycott was as dramatic as the situation itself.
Despite the turmoil, Musk, who Forbes lists as the world’s richest man with a net worth of $251 billion, has attempted to steer the platform in a direction aligned with his vision of free speech. He reinstated several controversial figures who were previously banned, including former President Donald Trump and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. These reinstatements came amid Trump’s legal troubles over various charges and lawsuits, and Jones’s legal battle with the Sandy Hook families, which resulted in a substantial financial judgment against him.
Internal documents obtained by The New York Times last year showed that the company offered equity at $45 per share in restricted stock units to employees, valuing the company at about $19 billion at the time—a significant drop from Musk’s acquisition price.
The financial reassessment from Fidelity, which decreased the value of its Twitter shares by 10.7 percent in November, aligns with Musk’s acknowledgment of overpaying for the platform. In a candid email to his employees earlier in the year, Musk admitted he believed Twitter was worth $20 billion, referring to it as an “inverse start-up.”
Relevant articles:
– Value of X has fallen 71% since purchase by Musk and name change from Twitter
– Elon Musk’s X is now worth less than one
– Elon Musk’s X now worth 71% less than when billionaire bought it as Twitter
Oh F off you jealous low IQ pukes. Quit attacking Elon. Why are you so obsessed with this man>is it because he doesn’t follow your lead? He hasn’t been caught doing anything naughty and worthy of blackmail on your spy cameras/ ??? Foff you pos creep worthless humans. God sees all your dirty tricks and you will be held accountable for all the lies and cons and dirty deeds y ou’ve ever done when you face God. NOTHING you do in the dark has been forgotten. You think you have these people on file when they did something wrong but you forget that YOU TOO are on file and will have to give account for your secret dirty deeds. Better wise up people. Time is short. God is real.