X's value shrinks from $44 billion to $19 billion in one year

X, previously Twitter, recently distributed stock grants to employees, revealing a significant decline in its valuation.

According to internal documents from The New York Times, the company's value has dropped to around $19 billion, a sharp 55% decrease from the $44 billion Elon Musk paid for the company just a year ago at $54.20 per share, an amount he later admitted was an overpayment. In March, he assessed the company's worth at $20 billion, describing it as an "inverse start-up."

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The New York Times report also mentioned that X disclosed the latest stock grants, offering equity at $45 per share in the form of restricted stock units. Employees would still receive cash equivalent to the original acquisition price of $54.20 per share for shares granted under the previous management.

It's unclear why X's share price hasn't followed the same percentage decrease as the company's overall valuation. One possibility is that X adjusted the number of available shares.

Musk's Transformations

During his year of ownership, Elon Musk implemented substantial changes within Twitter, including restructuring the company and altering the social media platform itself. The company saw a departure or layoff of over 80% of its 7,500 employees.

Musk also made changes to the platform's verification process and content moderation policies. Notably, Twitter's primary revenue source, advertising, experienced nearly a 60% decline in the United States during the summer. Musk also loaded the company with billions of dollars in debt to finance the acquisition.