One of the major stories of the year was Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in late 2022. The microblogging site was having financial difficulties at the time due to declining stock prices and declining ad revenue. Musk admitted that the price he paid for it was not worth it. He immediately started implementing significant changes, though, in an attempt to turn Twitter around, with the goal of turning it into a “one-stop shop” for financial services.
X’s Plummeting Value: A 50% Drop in One Year
But today, a year after Elon Musk bought Twitter (now X), the company’s value has fallen by over 50%. When X employees received their stock grants on Monday, it became clear that the company’s value had dropped from $44 billion—which Elon Musk had spent to acquire the business—to $19 billion. Elon Musk paid $54.20 per share to purchase Twitter, while X workers received $45 a share, according to an internal document seen by The Verge.
Employees will be able to accumulate restricted stock units, valued at $45 per share, as stated in the documentation for the new stock grants from X. Workers who were issued shares under the previous management will still receive $54.20 in cash payment for those shares, according to the corporation.
Possible Reasons Behind Share Price Stability
Why the share price has not dropped as much in comparison to the company’s valuation is unknown. However, a prior Fortune article speculated that this might be the result of X altering the amount of shares in circulation. In the meantime, according to the documents, the Board of Directors ascertains the fair market value per share in compliance with applicable tax regulations, taking into account a number of variables. It is important to note that Musk does not currently have a formal board and is the chair of X.
Employees at X, meanwhile, were ignorant of the company’s valuation following Musk’s takeover until recently. But the recent revelation of stock awards sheds some light on the matter, indicating that Musk’s valuation might still be too high and that some investors still believe the company is overpriced. In an email to staff members earlier this year, Musk acknowledged that he had overpaid for Twitter even though, at the time, he valued the company at $20 billion and referred to it as a “inverse start-up.”
Elon Musk’s Ongoing Transformation of X (Formerly Twitter)
Since acquiring Twitter a year ago, Elon Musk has drastically altered the business and the website. His new Twitter handle is X. Following the announcement of mass layoffs, more than 80% of the 7,500 workers at the company were let go or quit. Musk also updated the platform’s content control guidelines and verification procedure. Furthermore, Twitter’s primary revenue stream, advertising, fell by about 60% in the US throughout the summer. Musk also incurred a large debt load in order to finance the transaction.
“We’re rapidly transforming the company from sort of what it was, Twitter 1.0, to the everything app with an all-inclusive feature app where you can basically do anything you want on our system,” Elon Musk stated to his staff.
