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xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

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Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#341

Post by ketzo »

TheAlchemist wrote: post #305
dzhiurgis wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m guessing Tesla is paying xAI to train their FSD model?

That would be a shocking conflict of interest - a public company paying a private company, which is owned by the CEO of the public one ? All while the same CEO claims that the public company is the leader in the field ? Even by Tesla & Musk lawlessness standard that would be too wild.

We already have multiple news stories about xAI receiving 10,000s of GPUs that were originally meant for Tesla. That's about as close to "public company giving private company owned by CEO money" as you could possibly get without cartoon sacks of cash.

> Even by Tesla & Musk lawlessness standard that would be too wild.

Not to be overly snarky here, but, uh: what standard? They have proven over and over that they could not give less of a shit about either societal norms or the laws of the nation.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#342

Post by zitterbewegung »

quest88 wrote: post #241
zitterbewegung wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That and the data that is a part of X can be used by the xAI team. I expect it will be in the TOS if it isn't there already. "xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent."

Why does that warrant an acquisition?

It doesn't actually looks like another financial shifting chairs on the deck due to the xAI valuation being extremely high.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#343

Post by _ea1k »

ceejayoz wrote: post #235
_ea1k wrote: post #216

There's a lot of negativity here, but tbh, it makes complete sense. Grok and X are really tightly integrated already, and it was strange that they were separate enterprises to begin with. That part was odd. Fixing it isn't odd.

What can Grok do that’s worth $80B?

Nearly the same thing as Google search can at this point, but maybe a better job of it. It isn't people's default choice at this point, but I'm having a hard time imagining people not trending toward it (or a competitor) over time.

And right now, Gemini's public models aren't cutting it.

$80B for Twitter+Grok is potentially a bargain, but it all depends on execution.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#344

Post by rozap »

bhouston wrote: post #29

He has done this move before with Tesla buying Solar City. When you do a deal with yourself you can assign any value you want to assets, it isn’t a competitive process. In the previous case Solar City was dying but its acquisition by Tesla was pitched as a great synergy. https://www.businessinsider.com/solarcity-tesla-energy-belea... There were a few lawsuits from Tesla shareholders about the acquisition regarding se…

My guess is that there's an added grift, er...benefit here; since the federal government is now (apparently) in the business of subsidizing AI companies, we'll effectively see the failing social media platform get subsidized by the federal government.

I'm certain we'll see a pile of public funds handed over the xAI in the future.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#347

Post by saltysalt »

maxlin wrote: post #336
saltysalt wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of the companies you mentioned are owned by a private AI company, except X. I can't think of any other example of an AI company owning it's own social network, it's a fresh precedent.

That is irrelevant to the invalidity of your original statement. LLM's clearly don't have problems having their training data scraped from all those mentioned irregardless of their ownership.

My original statement was from the perspective of the users, not the LLMs. Perfectly valid to empathize with them.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#348

Post by tim333 »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #52

I'd feel great being someone that financed the takeover of X/Twitter, and being stuck with inflate shares in an also-ran AI play. Obviously there is no rule of law for Musk, and no recourse for them. He'll keep his ball of twine rolling past TSLA's next earnings date on April 22nd.

I guess the investors were basically making a bet on Musk making things work and so still are.

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#349

Post by tiffanyh »

saaaaaam wrote: post #48

So he just sold himself a company he already owns for a valuation that he himself assigned to that company but that was less than what he paid for it, and he paid entirely using “money” that has a made up value and which he issues himself? Wild.

Small correction.

When xAI was founded, the X investors got 25% of xAI.

So he didn’t sell for less than he paid for it.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/investors-who-backed...

Re: xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B

#350

Post by whats_a_quasar »

_ea1k wrote: post #337
whats_a_quasar wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The negativity is because he's using investor money in xAI in a related party transaction. He's negotiating both sides of the sale and it's not at all obvious the transaction price is a good or real price for Twitter. It may make sense to merge the two, but this is an unethical way to make a deal and I think it is likely the xAI investors are getting screwed.

I can understand that angle, but TBH, I have a hard time caring. They aren't a public company, and their private shareholders aren't lacking for resources to fight if they disagreed with this choice.

Oh yeah I totally agree with that framing. I find this fascinating intellectually because of the deal dynamics and worthy of critique but agree that the tone of some of the commentary is a bit silly. It's a really unethical thing to do, but it's all private capital and everyone with exposure knowingly made the choice to go into business with Musk. They can sue and definitely will win if Musk did cross any legal lines.
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