Employees at X (formerly Twitter) have been awarded shares in the company implying a $19 billion valuation of the social media platform, according to internal documents.
If the various reports are accurate, this represents a 55% discount to the price paid by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, when he took the company over last October.
X’s true valuation has been a matter of much speculation since Musk took the company private 12 months ago.
Musk initially tried to back out of the $44 billion deal, citing the proliferation of spam and fake accounts on the platform.
In May, he Tweeted that the deal “cannot move forward” unless then chief executive Parag Agrawal could prove that less than 5% of active accounts were fake or spam.
Following legal pressure, Musk finally agreed to the $44 billion price tag, widely seen as well above Twitter’s true value.
Recently seen documents purportedly state that the $19 billion valuation “is determined by the Board of Directors based on a number of factors in a manner that complies with applicable tax rules”, though no further details have been reported.
Since Musk’s takeover, app downloads and engagement levels have fallen sharply following a dramatic shakeup of the site.
Musk’s controversial decision to unban various accounts, including Donald Trump and Andrew Tate, proved divisive, with some high-profile advertisers reconsidering their relationship with X.
In July, Musk said that X had not yet seen the increase in sales he’d hoped for, while the surprising debut of Mark Zuckerberg’s supposed Twitter-killer Threads suddenly ramped up competition in the space.
Fidelity last week wrote down its X investment by more than 60% following the turbulent first 12 months under Musk.
Brand agencies have also been dumbfounded by Musk’s decision to rebrand Twitter to X, removing the universally recognised blue bird in favour of an ominous black and white logo.
That move wiped out around $4 billion in brand value alone, according to consulting firm Brand Finance.