Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022.
Elon Musk's social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) has plunged 71.5% in value since his October 2022 takeover, according to a Fidelity securities filing dated December 30, 2023. This means the platform is now worth a mere fraction of its $44 billion acquisition price. The decline is attributed to factors like user drops, advertising difficulties, and concerns over content moderation.
According to The Guardian, Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 and rebranded it as X in July 2023. According to Fidelity, X's current estimated value is around $12.5 billion. During the initial year under Mr Musk's ownership, X witnessed a 15% drop in monthly users.
Since Mr Musk's takeover, X has cut at least 50% of its staff and reduced moderation. And in September, the European Union issued a warning to Mr Musk after it found that X had the highest ratio of disinformation posts of all large social media platforms.
Fidelity's assessment, first published by Axios and extending until November 2023, takes into account the repercussions of losses on X, formerly Twitter. The valuation mirrors the consequences of an advertiser exodus that began in mid-November, as highlighted by Axios, specifying that 10.7% of the losses transpired exclusively in that month.
In November, major advertisers, including Disney, Apple, and Coca-Cola, pulled paid advertising off the platform to distance themselves from Mr Musk after his endorsement of an antisemitic post.
Forbes ranks Elon Musk as the world's wealthiest man, boasting a net worth of $251 billion. Mr Musk expressed his acquisition of Twitter as an effort to benefit humanity, emphasizing a broader purpose beyond financial considerations.