Elon Musk's investment into Twitter, now X, isn't looking too great from a monetary perspective, as reports suggest that the website is now worth just 72% of the $44 billion he paid back in 2022.
X (formerly Twitter) has changed significantly since Elon Musk took over in 2022, with unpopular feature changes and bizarre statements from its owner highlighting the trending unpopularity of the social media platform.
Musk has also had significant trouble attracting advertisers for X, which many assume is due to the rise in bots, right-wing speech, and misinformation on the service, which has also led many celebrities and businesses to make the jump over to rival Bluesky.
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New reports from Axios and Fidelity show that the effect of this have meant that X has dropped nearly 72% less than Musk's initial purchase value, making it around $12.3 billion overall.
This is despite a 32% rebound in stock price, although the value does not take into account Donald Trump's election victory or Musk's new role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
It's unlikely to effect Musk that much from a monetary standpoint, as he's managed to dramatically increase his net worth following the US election, and has recently been rumored to be handing over $100 million in donations to Reform UK's Nigel Farage.
Having taken X private it is unclear what the exact financial performance of the platform is, but X did boast all-time record high post numbers surrounding the US election.
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Many have speculated that Musk's purchase of Twitter was nothing to do with money though, as even the tech billionaire himself admitted at the time on the Joe Rogan Podcast that "the thing [Twitter] was way overpriced," arguing also that "long term, I think, we can ultimately make it a win for investors."
While it has not yet proved to be the 'long term investment win' that Musk predicted, it's hard to argue against the fact that the Tesla and SpaceX owner's acquisition for the platform played a significant role in the US election victory for the Republican party and Trump.
It remains still that Elon appears scared to some about the mass-exodus to platforms like Bluesky though, as recent changes have removed engagement numbers such as likes, reposts, quotes, and replies.
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Cynically you could argue that this change is to 'hide' the lower number of people engaging with content on the platform, but some also believe it to be a means to combat the pushback against controversial content, as the disparity (or 'ratio') between likes/retweets and replies/quotes often highlighted unpopular posts.