Elon Musk's X Formerly Twitter Value Falls To 19 Million USD Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter, has seen its value drastically fall under the tech mogul by over half of what he paid last year, according to news reports. Musk shelled out a hefty $44 billion for the social media site in 2022.
By Kavya Pillai
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Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter, has seen its value drastically fall under the tech mogul by over half of what he paid last year, according to news reports. Musk shelled out a hefty $44 billion for the social media site in 2022. Now, restricted stock units awarded to employees value the company at just 19 billion.
It can be noted that while buying the company, Musk had tried to tune down the price tag citing market conditions, but Twitter executives sued and held the Tesla chief to his initial word. As per an internal email in March, Musk himself had said the company was worth $20 billion. However, this figure too is a whole $1 billion lower than the assessed value. Since Musk took over, there have been significant changes at X. Most of Twitter's staff was either laid off or resigned. The company's content rules were altered, and it suffered a loss of more than half of its advertising revenue.
The valuation report was cited in an internal memo, which revealed the financial challenges X faces. When Musk acquired Twitter, its value was $44 billion, comprising both debt and equity. However, Musk's purchase added $13 billion in debt, and his management decisions, including looser content-safety rules, led to a 60 percent drop in sales. X is also burdened with approximately $1.2 billion in annual interest payments on its debt, according to sources. Elon Musk's strategy for X involves moving away from advertising towards paid subscriptions. Yet, the company has managed to persuade less than 1 percent of users to subscribe to its monthly premium service, estimated to generate less than $120 million annually.