X/Twitter is now worth less than a third of what Elon Musk bought it for, investor believes

Owner has sworn at advertisers among other controversies

Elon Musk’s X is worth less than a third of what he paid for it, according to one of the investors who helped him complete the deal.

Mutual fund Fidelity has reduced its valuation of the company formerly known as Twitter by 71.5 per cent than when it was first bought.

The company has drastically downgraded the value of its investment in the wake of a number of controversies, according to Axis, which cited a disclosure from Fidelity.

The drop in value including a 10.7 per cent cut in November. That month saw Elon Musk rage at advertisers on stage during a New York Times event, telling those who had boycotted the site to “go f*** yourself”.

Other social networks had a much stronger month. Snap gained 38 per cent during the same time, and Facebook parent company Meta saw an increase of 4.9 per cent in the value of its stock.

Fidelity was one of a number of investors who helped provide financing for Elon Musk to buy the company in October 2022, which he did for $44 billion. It started marking down the value of that investment soon after, Axios reported, though it stayed stable earlier in 2023.

While the company is a shareholder in the business, it may not have any inside information on how X is actually performing. Though the company is widely rumoured to have lost a significant amount of advertising business in the wake of Mr Musk’s controversies, it is no longer obliged to report its financial results as it was when it was a publicly traded company.

As well as his outburst on stage during the New York Times event, Mr Musk has been warned by the European Union about the spread of disinformation on its platforms and he has been personally accused of endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.