X has rapidly decreased in value since Elon Musk bought the platform a year ago. In October 2022, Musk was forced to purchase X, then known as Twitter, for $44 billion USD, despite trying to pull out of the deal at the last minute.
Earlier this week, X employees were awarded equity in the company at $45 USD per share for a total $19 billion USD valuation, according to The Verge, which viewed internal documents. The share price represents a 55% decrease from their worth just one year ago.
X employees received their shares in the form of restricted stock units (RSUs), which are earned over a four-year period but don’t have any value until vested.
The documents detail that “the fair market value per share is determined by the Board of Directors based on a number of factors in a manner that complies with applicable tax rules,” per The Verge.
It’s worth noting that X’s Board of Directors was immediately disbanded following Musk’s takeover. A securities filing from October 2022 names Musk as “the sole director of Twitter” and a new board still hasn’t been assembled.
In other tech news, Apple launched a MacBook Pro with new M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips.