X is worth 80% less than when Elon Musk bought it

The Street

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and why staying warm this winter is going to cost you.

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00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:02Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:04Wall Street is in nervous mode Wednesday

00:06after geopolitical tensions and a potentially economically

00:10damaging labor strike kept investors on edge.

00:13Meanwhile, good news on the labor front went overlooked.

00:16Private hiring bounced back more than expected in September,

00:19according to payroll company ADP.

00:21But on the corporate front, quarterly sales at Nike

00:24fell more than anticipated.

00:26Profits came in ahead of forecast,

00:28but that was largely due to cost cutting.

00:32In other news, Elon Musk's purchase of X

00:34is turning into a very bad investment

00:37for the billionaire.

00:38Since taking over the company formerly known as Twitter,

00:41X's value has plummeted roughly 80% to just $9.4 billion

00:47based on estimates by the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund.

00:50Musk paid $44 billion for the company in 2022.

00:54That estimate is based on the shares Fidelity still owns.

00:58As of the end of August, it says its stake

01:01was worth only $4.2 million, which was a 24% drop

01:05from the month before, and way down

01:08from the $19.6 million perceived value

01:11at the time of Musk's purchase.

01:13Other estimates of X's value are less dire, but not by much.

01:18Noted Wedbush securities analyst Dan Ives

01:20told CNN that X is probably worth about $15 billion

01:24and was worth about $30 billion when Musk did the deal.

01:28Analysts and marketing experts pin X's diminishing market

01:31value on Musk himself.

01:34Since taking over, he's scared away advertisers

01:37by allowing controversial content, misinformation,

01:40and unfounded conspiracy theories

01:42to proliferate the site.

01:43But not all the news is bad.

01:46X said monthly active users rose 6% in the second quarter

01:49to 570 million monthly active users.

01:53And that's still a lot of eyeballs for advertisers

01:57who are willing to pay up.

01:59That'll do it for your daily briefing

02:00from the New York Stock Exchange.

02:01I'm Conway Gittens with The Street.

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