this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2025
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[–] The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website 82 points 5 days ago (3 children)
[–] Laser@feddit.org 47 points 5 days ago (5 children)

Well, not really. Twitter was his own private property that he bought with borrowed money secured against his Tesla shares. xAI on the other hand is financed by investors whose money he used to bail himself out at a price he made up himself since Twitter is no longer publicly traded. So this is, in my opinion, misuse of investor funds; the picture would be true if xAI used how own money to do this, but no.

On one hand,I think this is serious fraud. On the other, my understanding for anyone investing into his companies is very limited, there are so many red flags on so many levels.

[–] gencha@lemm.ee 10 points 5 days ago

To understand Musk/Trump investors, imagine the investment to be an NFT.

[–] viking@infosec.pub 5 points 4 days ago

The investors have a seat in the board of directors in xAI, and for a shareholder deal you must have board approval. So at least more than 50% of the directors support this, meanings he is legally in the clear.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

yes its a perfect setup for a payoff.

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[–] sporkler@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I suspect the government(s) that represent the bulk of the funds behind xAI threw the money out to continue operating exactly as he has been.

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[–] bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 39 points 4 days ago

So hell get taxed for exchange of speculative assets right?... Right?!

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 30 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Is this so the loans secured with X stock can't be called in, forcing Elon to sell the collateral to pay back the loan?

Sure seems like a bullshit business move to retain control of Tesla.

[–] vxx@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

X is a private company, there's no stock. It was secured with Tesla stock.

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 28 points 5 days ago (2 children)

His juvenile enthusiasm for the letter X is so ten-year-old boy with sunglasses.

[–] Pandantic@midwest.social 32 points 5 days ago (2 children)
[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 20 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

“X” is also 88 in ASCII. 88 is a Nazi reference to “heil hitler”. Big surprise.

https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/88

[–] capybara@lemm.ee 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)
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[–] Pandantic@midwest.social 7 points 4 days ago

I did not know these things, but makes sense…

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Who did that‽ It's so beautiful, it should be posted all over Xitter lol

[–] Pandantic@midwest.social 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I made this one. Thanks for the compliment! 😅

Edit: btw proudly made in GIMP!!

[–] Tm12@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Just confirming Xitter is pronounced “shitter” right?

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

That's how I've been pronouncing it in my head when I read it.

I still say "Twitter" though because that and the gulf of Mexico are the only things I feel are okay to deadname.

Until the Gulf of Mexico becomes sentient and tells me it prefers to be called the Gulf of America, I will continue to call it what the rest of the world calls it.

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[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

He called the tesla models S3XY, and the 3 is only because Ford was gonna sue him if he used E.

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[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)

using AI hype to finance X loans?

[–] alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 5 days ago (8 children)

Correct.

It's actually a smart move.

The dumb money are those pouring hundreds of billions into the AI hype. This is .com bubble on steroids.

And sure, AI obviously is becoming an important market, but it will not be the current leaders who will dominate the tech. Like the internet, it's just too easy to catch up for competitors. Pouring $100B into AI today will only mean you lose out to the $1B startup in 2 years. The incumbents will go broke.

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The incumbents will go broke.

Can't wait! Gonna stock up on some popcorn lmao

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

And toilet paper. For whatever reason.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I don't understand how this gets him free of the loans. My understanding is that he financed $14B of the Twitter purchase with loans secured against Tesla stock. That $14B worth of twitter stock was then owned by Musk and he also had a loan.

This was an all stock purchase, so xAI stock was exchanged for equivalent value of Twitter stock (keep the old name to keep it clear). Now Musk's twitter stock that he bought with the $14B will become the equivalent value of xAI stock, and he still has the loan that bought it in the first place.

Unless $14B of stock has been sold somewhere to repay the loans they still exist.

Edit: just an addendum. Personally I think stock-for-stock trades should be illegal. Force the parties to move through cash. There's too much smoke and mirrors hidden by skipping steps. In this case xAI should have had to raise the capital to purchase X. If it can do it through selling stock so be it, but it's not a wholely internal affair.

[–] alvvayson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 days ago

To know how exactly it works, we'd need to know details that aren't public.

But just speculating, if the creditors value the combined xAI+X higher than just X, then there is room to transfer the loan to the new company and away from Tesla.

But whatever the details are, Elon isn't an idiot when it comes to money. He definitely has advisors who cooked up the optimal way to profit from the AI hype.

And the essence of that is that Tesla shareholders will be left holding the bag, while Elon utiizes X/xAI to capitalize on the hype.

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[–] Kwyjibo1@lemmy.myserv.one 19 points 4 days ago

Musk's slight of hand shell game to keep from losing his shirt if his Tesla stock keeps dropping and his X financiers come looking for money.

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 16 points 4 days ago (5 children)
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[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 15 points 3 days ago

This might have the opposite effect he wants, xAI investors no longer have a clean AI investment and are now linked to a failing social media platform.

xAI is already losing bigtime vs other AI companies, this just makes it even less attractive.

[–] merdaverse@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt)

Lol, he actually think the value of Shitter is still $45B, as when he bought it. That's cute.

[–] Redditsux@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] Yoga@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 days ago

Wrote down not off.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/02/x-twitter-stock-falls-elon-musk

Debt is written off when deemed unrecoverable.

Assets can be written down when the value is lower than expected. Often this is due to more rapid depreciation of capital assets due to damage or impairments to goodwill (brand failure).

But none of that matters because private equity valuations are all bullshit and mean nothing anyways.

https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/private-equity/private-equity-is-a-joke

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 13 points 4 days ago

Are the authorities aware? It's very illegal to sell exctacy in the US.

[–] random_character_a@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (9 children)

So the bullshit machinery is now AI driven bullshit machinery. What if AI finds it too vile and deletes itself.

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[–] athairmor@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I’m surprised the Twitter investors would approve this. Their worthless Twitter stock is now worthless xAI stock. How does that help them?

I guess they’ll try to take xAI public with a massively overpriced IPO.

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[–] SunshineJogger@feddit.org 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Very likely this will turn out to be a broken and bugged version of skynet, trained on X toxicity and the mental aptitude of a 12 year old.

It will proceed to try to enslave humanity, then try to kill us all but accidentally spend all its money on gender affirming care, then start to self hate and destroy itsself.

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