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Elon Musk’s X doubled its adjusted EBITDA since 2022 takeover: report

Credit: Linda Yaccarino/X

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It appears that Elon Musk’s $44 billion investment to acquire Twitter may not be his worst business decision after all. 

As per a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, investors are now clamoring to get a piece of the social media platform.

The report:

  • As per the WSJ, banks wrapped up the sale of $5.5 billion in debt backed by X on Wednesday.
  • Citing people reportedly familiar with the matter, the publication noted that the banks had initially planned to sell about $3 billion at about 95 cents on the dollar.
  • However, due to demand from investors, the deal was upsized. 
  • Ultimately, investors ended up buying the loans at 97 cents on the dollar.
  • The floating-rate debts carry an interest rate of about 11%, the WSJ reported.

X’s turnaround:

  • Twitter saw a drop in valuation following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media company. 
  • An exodus of advertisers immediately after Musk’s acquisition also resulted in X losing a notable portion of its advertising revenue.
  • Musk, however, trimmed down Twitter and adopted strategies that made the company less reliant on advertising revenue.
  • During a meeting last week with potential investors, bankers from Morgan Stanley and X CEO Linda Yaccarino highlighted the improving financial health of the social media platform.
  • The executives reportedly discussed the interconnection between X and Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, which was valued at $50 billion last year.

X’s 2024: 

  • During the last full year prior to Musk’s takeover, Twitter reported adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of about $682 million and about $5 billion in revenue.
  • In 2024, X had an EBITDA of about $1.25 billion and annual revenue of $2.7 billion.
  • While X’s revenue is about half of what it used to be, the company’s costs are just about a quarter of what they were before.
  • As per the WSJ, investors noted that these were better figures than they had anticipated.

Musk’s comments:

  • In posts on X, Musk joked that X’s 2024 results suggest that “It’s almost like I’m good with money.”
  • Musk also noted that there is still “room for improvement.”
  • He also noted that “revenue should improve rapidly this year as the advertising boycott winds down.”

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk

Tesla investors will be shocked by Jim Cramer’s latest assessment

Jim Cramer is now speaking positively about Tesla, especially in terms of its Robotaxi performance and its perception as a company.

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Credit: CNBC Television/YouTube

Tesla investors will be shocked by analyst Jim Cramer’s latest assessment of the company.

When it comes to Tesla analysts, many of them are consistent. The bulls usually stay the bulls, and the bears usually stay the bears. The notable analysts on each side are Dan Ives and Adam Jonas for the bulls, and Gordon Johnson for the bears.

Jim Cramer is one analyst who does not necessarily fit this mold. Cramer, who hosts CNBC’s Mad Money, has switched his opinion on Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) many times.

He has been bullish, like he was when he said the stock was a “sleeping giant” two years ago, and he has been bearish, like he was when he said there was “nothing magnificent” about the company just a few months ago.

Now, he is back to being a bull.

Cramer’s comments were related to two key points: how NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang describes Tesla after working closely with the Company through their transactions, and how it is not a car company, as well as the recent launch of the Robotaxi fleet.

Jensen Huang’s Tesla Narrative

Cramer says that the narrative on quarterly and annual deliveries is overblown, and those who continue to worry about Tesla’s performance on that metric are misled.

“It’s not a car company,” he said.

He went on to say that people like Huang speak highly of Tesla, and that should be enough to deter any true skepticism:

“I believe what Musk says cause Musk is working with Jensen and Jensen’s telling me what’s happening on the other side is pretty amazing.”

Tesla self-driving development gets huge compliment from NVIDIA CEO

Robotaxi Launch

Many media outlets are being extremely negative regarding the early rollout of Tesla’s Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas.

There have been a handful of small issues, but nothing significant. Cramer says that humans make mistakes in vehicles too, yet, when Tesla’s test phase of the Robotaxi does it, it’s front page news and needs to be magnified.

He said:

“Look, I mean, drivers make mistakes all the time. Why should we hold Tesla to a standard where there can be no mistakes?”

It’s refreshing to hear Cramer speak logically about the Robotaxi fleet, as Tesla has taken every measure to ensure there are no mishaps. There are safety monitors in the passenger seat, and the area of travel is limited, confined to a small number of people.

Tesla is still improving and hopes to remove teleoperators and safety monitors slowly, as CEO Elon Musk said more freedom could be granted within one or two months.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk hints at when Tesla could reduce Safety Monitors from Robotaxi

Tesla could be reducing Safety Monitors from Robotaxi within ‘a month or two,’ CEO Elon Musk says.

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Elon Musk hinted at when Tesla could begin reducing Safety Monitors from its Robotaxis. Safety Monitors are Tesla employees who sit in the front passenger seat during the driverless rides, and are there to ensure safety for occupants during the earliest rides.

Tesla launched its Robotaxi fleet in Austin last Sunday, and after eight days, videos and reviews from those who have ridden in the driverless vehicles have shown that the suite is safe, accurate, and well coordinated. However, there have been a few hiccups, but nothing that has put anyone’s safety in danger.

A vast majority — close to all of the rides — at least according to those who have ridden in the Robotaxi, have been performed without any real need for human intervention. We reported on what was the first intervention last week, as a Safety Monitor had to step in and stop the vehicle in a strange interaction with a UPS truck.

Watch the first true Tesla Robotaxi intervention by safety monitor

The Tesla and UPS delivery truck were going for the same street parking space, and the Tesla began to turn into it. The UPS driver parallel parked into the spot, which was much smaller than his truck. It seemed to be more of an instance of human error instead of the Robotaxi making the wrong move. This is something that the driverless cars will have to deal with because humans are aggressive and sometimes make moves they should not.

The Safety Monitors have not been too active in the vehicles. After all, we’ve only seen that single instance of an intervention. There was also an issue with the sun, when the Tesla braked abnormally due to the glare, but this was an instance where the car handled the scenario and proceeded normally.

With the Robotaxi fleet operating impressively, some are wondering when Tesla will begin scaling back both the Safety Monitors and Teleoperators that it is using to ensure safety with these early rides.

CEO Elon Musk answered the inquiry by stating, “As soon as we feel it is safe to do so. Probably within a month or two.”

Musk’s response seems to confirm that there will be fewer Teleoperators and Safety Monitors in the coming months, but there will still be some within the fleet to ensure safety. Eventually, that number will get to zero.

Reaching a point where Tesla’s Robotaxi is driverless will be another significant milestone for the company and its path to fully autonomous ride-sharing.

Eventually, Tesla will roll out these capabilities to consumer-owned vehicles, offering them a path to generate revenue as their car operates autonomously and completes rides.

For now, Tesla is focusing on perfecting the area of Austin where it is currently offering driverless rides for just $4.20 to a small group of people.

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Elon Musk

A Tesla just delivered itself to a customer autonomously, Elon Musk confirms

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the first self-delivery occurred today, one day ahead of schedule.

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer/X

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that a vehicle has, for the first time ever, delivered itself to a customer autonomously, one day ahead of the company’s original schedule.

To date, this is the first car to ever roll off a production line at a factory and transport itself to a customer for delivery.

Late last month, Musk announced that the first-ever fully autonomous delivery of a Tesla would take place on June 28. The plan was to have the car roll off the production lines at Gigafactory Texas and drive to a local customer without the assistance of anyone on board or remotely controlling the car through teleoperation.

Teslas will self-deliver to customers, Elon Musk says: here’s when

Musk said on Friday that it has officially happened:

The vehicle traveled as fast as 72 miles per hour, according to Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Head of AI and Autopilot.

Musk continued on X:

“There were no people in the car at all and no remote operators in control at any point. FULLY autonomous! To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully autonomous drive with no people in the car or remotely operating the car on a public highway.”

He said a video of the delivery would be uploaded soon.

We have seen cars autonomously transport themselves from production line to logistics lot at Gigafactory Texas, but this is a whole new level.

Tesla’s Giga Texas vehicles now drive themselves to outbound lot

Tesla just recently launched its Robotaxi for the first time in Austin on Sunday. Opened to a limited number of people, the company rolled out an Early Access Riders Program, but has been expanding it to more people in recent days. These cars featured a Safety Monitor in the passenger’s seat to ensure safety.

This seems to be something Tesla would like to perform more frequently in the coming months, especially locally. Eventually, it seems that Tesla will plan to have every vehicle it manufactures self-deliver, as a hauler would transport it to local delivery centers, then the car would drive itself to the customer’s house.

This is likely a few years off, but Tesla has already completed one self-delivery, which is an incredible accomplishment.

Yesterday, I wrote about Tesla’s two big milestones that are still planned for launch before the end of Q2. This was one of them. One to go: unveiling of the affordable models.

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