X valued at $19 billion in share plan for workers

Everybody knew that Twitter wasn’t value $44 billion when Elon Musk purchased it a yr in the past. Now, we all know what Musk himself thinks it’s value in the present day: $19 billion.

On Monday, staff at X have been awarded fairness within the firm at a valuation of $19 billion, or $45 per share, in response to inner paperwork seen by The Verge. That value is a 55 % low cost to Musk’s unique buy value, per the paperwork, which word that “the honest market worth per share is decided by the Board of Administrators primarily based on numerous elements in a way that complies with relevant tax guidelines.” (Musk is X’s chair and has but to create a proper board.)

Since he took over Twitter, Musk has stated that he needs to mannequin the corporate’s compensation plan after SpaceX, which can also be privately held however lets staff recurrently money out a portion of their shares to outdoors traders. The kind of fairness X is giving staff known as restricted inventory models, or RSUs. These RSUs are earned over a interval of 4 years from their grant date and require a “liquidity occasion,” corresponding to an IPO or sale of the corporate, to be taxed as revenue, the interior paperwork clarify. (Fortune first reported that X was valuing itself at $19 billion.)

Till now, staff at X have been working there with out the data of what the corporate is value since Musk purchased it. This inventory award info lastly solutions that query, although evidently Musk’s valuation should be too beneficiant; one in all his massive traders, Constancy, thinks X is value 65 % lower than when he purchased it.

I’ll have extra on X’s new inventory plan within the subsequent difficulty of my e-newsletter: