The xAI–X merger is a good deal — if you’re betting on Musk’s empire

When Elon Musk announced that his AI startup, xAI, had acquired his social media company, X (formerly known as Twitter), in an all-stock deal, it raised some eyebrows. But in many ways, the deal made sense. xAI’s chatbot, Grok, was already deeply integrated with X, X was floundering financially, and Musk needed a way to make his $44 billion Twitter acquisition look less like an impulsive takeover and more like a strategic play for AGI dominance. It also pointed to something deeper about how Musk’s empire works: investing in any one of his companies isn’t about a quick return on investment. It’s about buying into the mysticism around Musk and swallowing whole a narrative of success that outpaces the actual numbers. Some call it a grift, pointing to Musk’s history of overpromising and underdelivering. But the market is increasingly more tolerant – welcoming, even – of narrative-led investments, particularly when the thread that ties the tale together is one of the president’s right-han ... Read full article.