Tech magnate Elon Musk has refuted claims regarding the purported $500 million funding plans for his artificial intelligence startup xAI through social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Conflicting Reports on Funding
Initially reported by Bloomberg, claims suggested that xAI was in talks for a valuation estimated between \(15-20 billion, with alleged commitments of \)500 million from investors, with a target of $1 billion. Musk dismissed these reports as misinformation.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, discussions are ongoing for a tender offer valued between \(500 million to \)750 million, speculating a potential share price of around $95 each.
Despite xAI not releasing an official statement, insider sources mentioned in Bloomberg confirmed the ongoing negotiations. The company remained unresponsive to Reuters’ inquiries.
In a previous instance in December, Musk had refuted fundraising activities for xAI, despite the startup’s filing with the US securities regulator indicating plans to raise $1 billion through an equity offering.
The filing also disclosed xAI’s prior funding of approximately $135, without divulging the identities of the investors.
Established by Musk in July 2023, xAI was positioned as a countermeasure to concerns surrounding AI advancements by major tech conglomerates. Musk has consistently censured prominent tech firms for what he perceives as excessive censorship and inadequate safety protocols within their AI ventures.
His AI venture aims to rival industry giants such as Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Musk unveiled xAI’s inaugural language model, Grok, in November, trained on data sourced from X with real-time integration with the social media platform.
