Estimated at one-third of the level at acquisition
Musk's wealth increased by $48 billion
Impact of Tesla stock surge this year
Reports have emerged that Twitter's current value is only about one-third of the price Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, paid when acquiring the company.
On the 30th (local time), Bloomberg News reported this based on information released by asset management firm Fidelity.
Earlier, Musk acknowledged that purchasing Twitter for $44 billion (approximately 58.2 trillion KRW), including $33.5 billion (about 44.3 trillion KRW) in stock, was an overpayment. Recently, Musk also mentioned that Twitter's value is less than half of the acquisition price.
The media reported that it is unclear how Fidelity arrived at the lower valuation of Twitter and whether they received any non-public information from Twitter.
Fidelity first lowered Twitter's valuation to 44% of the acquisition price in November last year. Subsequently, they further reduced the valuation in December last year and February this year. Twitter has reportedly not issued an official statement regarding this.
Since Musk's acquisition, Twitter has faced financial difficulties. The acquisition resulted in $13 billion (16 trillion KRW) in debt due to collateralized loans, and advertising revenue has dropped by about 50% due to content management issues.
To offset this revenue decline, Twitter introduced the 'Twitter Blue' program, which issues verified account badges for about $8 (approximately 10,000 KRW), but it has yet to yield significant results.
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, based on Fidelity's valuation, Musk's stake in Twitter is valued at only $8.8 billion (approximately 11.6 trillion KRW).
Musk paid over $25 billion (about 33 trillion KRW) to acquire 79% of Twitter's shares last year. Nevertheless, Bloomberg added that Musk's net worth has increased by $48 billion (approximately 63.5 trillion KRW) this year due to Tesla's stock price surge.
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