Elon Musk's self-deal for his AI company xAI to acquire X, formerly Twitter, is the strongest sign yet that the AI business is devouring the social media world. Between the lines: Musk's move is a maneuver to spruce up his overall financial picture — leveraging the AI industry's fizzy valuation arithmetic to shore up X's stagnant revenue and debt-loaded capital structure.

Elon Musk said on Friday that his startup xAI has merged with X, his social network, in an all-stock transaction that values the artificial intelligence company at $80 billion and the social media company at $33 billion.

Elon Musk said on Friday that his xAI has acquired X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, in an all-stock transaction for $45 billion.

Elon Musk just sold X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, to himself? Well, kind of. Musk, in a post on X Friday, said that his artificial-intelligence company, xAI, has acquired X in an all-stock transaction that values X at $33 billion ($45 billion minus $12 billion in debt).

Both companies are privately held, which means they are not required to disclose their finances to the public.

Musk said in a post on X that the move will “unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.” He said the deal values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.