X now valued at $19bn – less than half of what Elon Musk paid for it

Elon Musk’s X is now valued at about $19bn or less than half of what he paid to buy the social media company, according to a new report. The multibillionaire Tesla and SpaceX chief last year finally bought the microblogging platform that was formerly called Twitter for the price of $44bn or $54.20 per share. Mr Musk’s purchase was completed after a months-long legal battle with the company. A new internal valuation has now found there to have been a 56 per cent decrease in the company’s value over the last 12 months, suggested internal documents. Stock grants handed out to employees showed X/Twitter is now worth about $19bn, Fortune reported on Monday. Mr Musk earlier said he had overpaid for the social media platform that he called “an inverse start-up.” In March, he told employees in an email that they would receive stock awards based on a $20bn valuation of the firm. The valuation drop comes as several high-profile advertisers have withdrawn after the Tesla titan’s controversial takeover of the company. Mr Musk’s reign of the platform has been marred by mass layoffs, the chaotic roll out of a number of new features, including the site’s verification process, and the reinstatement of previously suspended high-profile accounts. The company was also rebranded X along with a new logo to replace the bird icon that had been there since the platform’s creation. There have also been rising concerns around X’s content moderation approach. The EU recently opened an investigation into the company as misinformation linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict began to spread on the platform. In July, Mr Musk shared that X is “still negative cash flow” with a “50 per cent drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load”. Banks involved in financing the multibillionaire’s deal to buy Twitter are also reportedly struggling to mitigate the impact of platform’s decline in value on their balance sheets. The Tesla and SpaceX boss, however, has remained optimistic about the future of the platform. Mr Musk claimed in an email last year that he saw a “clear, but difficult, path to a >$250B valuation” for the company. In a recent company meeting, he also reportedly expressed his belief that the rebranded X could serve as an all-purpose app with a range of features like job recruitment and dating services. “We’re rapidly transforming the company from sort of what it was, Twitter 1.0, to the everything app with an all-inclusive feature app where you can basically do anything you want on our system,” he said, according to The New York Times. The Independent has reached out to X for a comment. Read More Elon Musk slammed by Israel for offering to send Starlink to Gaza Elon Musk says X posts with misinformation are ‘ineligible for revenue share’ Twitter adds video calling – and lets strangers ring you Elon Musk was ‘almost in tears’ on Tesla earnings call, analyst claims Slack to retire its status account on Elon Musk’s X Tesla’s profits dip as Musk goes on rant about staff working from home