Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and X moniker clearly didn’t work

The social media platform X took a hit, losing a whopping 71% of its value since Elon Musk acquired it, as reported by the Fidelity mutual fund. Fidelity, holding a stake in X Holdings, revealed in a disclosure obtained by Axios that it had slashed the value of its shares by 71.5% following Musk’s acquisition.

Musk grabbed Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, and by July 2023, he rebranded it as X. Fidelity’s calculations suggest X’s value is now around $12.5 billion. In the first year post-Musk takeover, X witnessed a 15% decline in monthly users, partly due to worries about an increase in hate speech on the platform.

Under Musk’s control, X slashed its staff by at least 50% and scaled back on moderation efforts. In September, the European Union issued a warning to Musk, noting that X had the highest ratio of disinformation posts among all major social media platforms. Fidelity’s updated valuation of X, as reported by Axios, is based on a disclosure that extended until the end of November 2023. X didn’t respond right away when asked for a comment.

The fallout mentioned in that disclosure likely includes major companies pulling their ads from X after Musk supported an antisemitic conspiracy theory, as reported by the New York Times. In response to the boycott, Musk bluntly told the companies to “go f*ck yourself” during an interview at an event in New York.

According to Forbes, Musk holds the title of the world’s wealthiest individual with a net worth of $251 billion. When he bought Twitter, Musk stated that his intention was to acquire the company “to try to help humanity.”

Since Musk took charge, he has brought back several individuals who were previously banned from the platform, including former President Donald Trump and the right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Trump is dealing with over 90 criminal charges related to undermining the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden, retaining government secrets post-presidency, and making hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Additionally, he’s trying to ward off civil lawsuits regarding business matters and a rape allegation that a judge has found substantially credible.

Besides, Jones has recently suggested coughing up $55 million over a decade to the Sandy Hook families who took legal action against him. They sued him for spreading false information that the 2012 schoolhouse shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, were a hoax intended to push the U.S. into adopting gun control.