Elon Musk’s $44bn acquisition of Twitter, now X, has not delivered the expected financial rebound, with revenue falling from $5.1bn in 2022 to $3.2bn last year for X and Grok combined. Advertisers fled due to Musk’s moderation-lite approach and political entanglements. Yet, X maintains cultural and political relevance: high-profile users like Donald Trump, Apple’s John Ternus, and Anthropic’s Jacob Coxon continue to engage on the platform.
While monthly user growth has stalled, average time spent per visit has risen to three minutes, up from two minutes a year ago. Despite over a third of users considering alternatives like Bluesky, actual platform switching remains low. X retains unique advantages, including Musk’s deep pockets and backing from Wall Street institutions like Morgan Stanley, which projects X and Grok revenue could reach $35bn by 2030.
For Space X investors, X’s value lies in amplifying Musk’s public presence, which may have already boosted Space X’s valuation multiple by 0.4x — theoretically justifying the original $44bn Twitter purchase. As the article concludes, being talked about may be more valuable than being liked.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing