Musk's xAI buys his social media platform X

Elon Musk says that his AI venture xAI has acquired his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, reports UK media.

In an X post Friday, Musk said the all-stock transaction values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.

Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022.

"xAI and X's futures are intertwined," Musk wrote on X Friday. "Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent."

The move may be aimed at protecting investors, who helped him buy purchase X, from losing money.

Both X and xAI are privately held and share some major investors. They also share significant resources.

"The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge," Musk wrote.

XAI has used data from social media posts on X to train its models, and its chatbot Grok is a prominent feature on the platform.

"The move appears sensible, considering the current trend of increased investments in AI, data centres, and computing," said analyst Paolo Pescatore, founder of PP Foresight, who was quoted by the BBC.

Musk has been locked in a legal battle with OpenAI, the company he founded in 2015 with CEO Sam Altman.

Last year, Musk sued OpenAI and Altman for straying from the company's original mission and pushing to transition the startup to a for-profit model.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI was finalizing a $40 billion funding round with the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank.

The outlet also reported the funds are contingent on the company completing its restructuring to a for-profit entity.