Musk Pivots Strategy After X Crumbles: ‘Back to Business Basics’

Elon Musk scrambled to refocus on his business empire after a major X outage disrupted thousands of users on May 25, 2025. The tech billionaire pledged to get back to business basics following the platform’s latest crisis.

X has struggled to meet Musk’s ambitious growth targets. He’d originally projected the platform would hit 600 million daily active users by 2025. Instead, X recently claimed 600 million monthly active users – a much lower metric. The daily user count sits at just 250 million, unchanged since November 2022.

X’s daily users remain stuck at 250 million while monthly users hit 600 million, missing Musk’s original targets.

The platform’s troubles extend beyond user growth. X is now worth less than half the $44 billion Musk paid for Twitter. European engagement dropped 15% since his takeover, according to an EU transparency report. The platform would need massive growth in other regions to make up for these losses.

Despite the setbacks, Musk has pushed ahead with major changes. In March 2025, he merged X with his AI company xAI in an all-stock deal. The platform added video responses, letting users reply to posts with video reactions. It also launched a dedicated video tab for US users and enhanced community features.

Musk’s vision extends beyond traditional social media. He’s transformed X into what he calls an “everything app,” blending communication, content, payments, and artificial intelligence. The platform now features Grok, an AI tool from xAI. Musk even suggested X should “hallucinate” to compete with other AI services.

The business model has shifted too. X moved away from relying mainly on ad revenue. It now offers subscription tiers and creator monetization features to bring in money from different sources. The platform introduced X Premium as a key revenue stream, offering users priority in replies, exclusive customization options, and enhanced analytics access.

X faces growing competition from rival platforms that emerged during its controversial changes. Yet it remains influential. Government officials, celebrities, and media outlets still use it for real-time news and conversation.

The May outage appears to have prompted serious reflection from Musk. His pledge to refocus suggests he recognizes the need to stabilize X while managing his broader business empire, which includes Tesla and xAI. Musk announced he would work 24/7 and sleep in conference rooms, server facilities, and factory floors to ensure critical technologies roll out successfully.