Just think, this all started with a picture of a man carrying a sink into an office building.
It has been a winding road for Elon Musk since a court ruled he had to buy Twitter after he attempted to pull out of a legally binding agreement and the company sued to force Musk to buy it for $44 billion.
Despite his initial trepidation, Musk seems to have really enjoyed his time running his favorite social media platform.
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Musk is the most popular person on what is now called X, with nearly 221 million followers. Thousands of supporters, and adversaries, interact with his every post and reply.
This week, one of those supporters became a very powerful adversary when Musk began attacking President Donald Trump.
Musk, who says Trump would not have won the presidency without his help, slammed his former boss’ main legislative agenda, and most shockingly, tied the president to Jeffrey Epstein.
While this type of unpredictable mayhem is exactly what keeps people hooked on X, the Wall Street Journal reports that Musk’s tweet storm may have cost xAI, X’s parent company, a lot of money.
Morgan Stanley’s bid to raise $5 billion for xAI hits a snag because of Elon Musk
Deal makers from Morgan Stanley were in the process of wooing investors as part of a $5 billion debt deal when Musk seemingly began burning his most valuable bridges to the White House, according to a new report.
The bank had gathered some of xAI’s top executives on a conference call to talk about the company and its role in the world with Trump as an ally in the White House.
Between January and April, Morgan Stanley was able to sell about $11 billion of X debt, the Wall Street Journal reported, without incurring major losses. But now, the Journal reports that investors who followed Musk’s breakup with Trump live are now worried about what the new reality could mean for the company.
Related: Tesla execs question Elon Musk over controversial X post
Musk’s relationship with Trump made xAI more attractive, but now, not only does Musk not have Trump’s backing, but investors are also worried that Trump may retaliate against Musk somehow, according to the report.
Potential xAI investors aren’t the only ones who are worried, however. Tesla shares dropped 7% in the aftermath of Musk’s tweet storm.
Morgan Stanley is looking to sell about $5 billion in debt to finance the building of data centers to train its AI program, Grok.
The bank had been looking to sell the debt at about 100 cents on the dollar, but after the spat, Xs outstanding debt traded down several points to 95 cents on the dollar.
xAI is also in the midst of arranging a $300 million stock sale, a transaction that would value the company at $113 billion. xAI reported a $341 mllon loss in the first quarter of the year, but expects to be profitable within a few years.
Musk’s foray into politics may hurt his companies.
Imaage source: Theo Wargo/WireImage via Getty Images
Elon Musk transforms Twitter into X
Twitter has always been a place for robust political discussion. A Pew Research study from May 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021, found that one-third of the tweets on the site were political.
But over the past two years, he has discovered the true power of social media and has used it to promote his political agenda.
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Musk has relaxed moderation standards, so the civility of the discourse has taken a dive.
This year, only 20% of Democrats on X reported having a mostly positive experience, while 40% said they had a mostly negative experience. Meanwhile, 51% of Republicans say they have a mostly positive experience, while just 11% say they have a mostly negative experience.
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