New Delhi, May 31: Twitter is now worth only about $15 billion, a massive 33 per cent lower than $44 billion Elon Musk and his co-investors paid to acquire the platform, the media reported on Wednesday.

Twitter has struggled financially since Musk took over. The financial services giant Fidelity estimated in its monthly report of portfolio valuations that Twitter is now worth just one-third worth of what Musk paid for the micro-blogging platform, reports Bloomberg. Twitter Feature Update: Elon Musk-Led Platform Testing ‘Notes on Media’ Feature To Identify Misleading Media.

Musk's investment in Twitter is now worth $8.8 billion. The outgoing Twitter CEO spent over $25 billion to acquire an estimated 79 per cent stake in the company in October last year. He earlier acknowledged that he overpaid to acquire Twitter, including $33.5 billion in equity.

"Although obviously myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for Twitter right now, the long-term potential for Twitter, in my view, is an order of magnitude greater than its current value," Musk had said during Tesla's earnings call in October last year.

"I'm excited about the Twitter situation because, obviously, I know their product incredibly well," he said. "And I think it's an asset that has sort of languished for a long time but has incredible potential."

Fidelity first reduced the value of its Twitter stake in November to 44 per cent of the purchase price. That was followed by further markdowns, the report mentioned.

Fidelity's Twitter stake, which now comes under Musk's X Holdings, was valued at almost $6.55 million (as of late April). Elon Musk Says ‘Sorry’ for Twitter Taking Up Much Space on Phones.

Going through a churning with just about 1,500 employees left from an earlier 7,500-strong workforce, Twitter is finding it difficult to make strong profits.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 31, 2023 11:14 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).