Elon Musk announced that his xAI artificial intelligence startup has acquired the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, at a valuation of $33 billion. The acquisition, described as an all-stock transaction, values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, with X’s valuation rising to $45 billion when including $12 billion of debt. The combined entity, XAI Holdings, is valued at over $100 billion, excluding debt. Morgan Stanley served as the sole banker for the deal, representing both sides. The merger aims to streamline Musk’s businesses and solidify the relationship between X and xAI, which has used X’s data to enhance its chatbot. The deal also resolves uncertainty for X’s backers following user and advertiser exoduses due to Musk’s changes. The acquisition is expected to provide xAI with a unique advantage by granting access to vast amounts of training data and allowing control over that data flow. Analysts view the deal positively, highlighting the integration of Grok’s AI capabilities with X’s distribution. The merger could set a precedent for other social networking companies to pursue similar deals to enhance their consumer reach and distribution.