Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, is facing a challenging period with a recent analysis from Fidelity, one of Musk’s X Holdings shareholders, indicating a 71.5 percent decline in the company’s value since Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform. This revelation emerged from Fidelity’s November 2023 disclosure, where the mutual fund, which contributed over $300 million to Musk’s Twitter takeover, marked down the value of its shares in the company.
The updated valuation includes a 10.7 percent reduction during the month when Musk made controversial remarks telling advertisers to “go f*** yourself” at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit. This analysis comes over a year after Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, renaming it X in July. According to Fidelity’s estimate, the current value stands at around $12.5 billion, significantly lower than Musk’s own estimate of $19 billion in October.
Earlier in September, Fidelity had already marked down the value by 65 percent in the first 11 months following Musk’s acquisition. It’s important to note that different shareholders in X may assess the value of their stock differently than Fidelity. a challenging period
Elon Musk’s leadership at X has been marked by turbulence. Following his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, Musk assured advertisers that the platform would not devolve into a “free-for-all hellscape” under his ownership. However, just a few months after Musk assumed control, The New York Times published a report revealing a significant increase in hate speech on the social media platform since his takeover. This has added to the challenges and controversies surrounding Musk’s tenure at X.