Elon Musk has reportedly appointed former Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) banker Anthony Armstrong as the new chief financial officer of his artificial intelligence firm xAI.
Armstrong To Oversee Finances For xAI And X
Armstrong will oversee financial operations for both xAI and social media platform X, which Musk merged earlier this year in a deal valuing the combined entity at roughly $113 billion, reported the Financial Times, citing unnamed sources.
Armstrong, who advised Musk on the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022, has emerged as one of the billionaire's most trusted financial confidants.
His X profile now features the xAI logo, indicating his formal appointment.
Leadership Changes Amid Aggressive AI Expansion
The move follows a string of high-level departures across Musk's companies, including Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of X and xAI's previous CFO Mike Liberatore, who left after clashing with Musk's inner circle and later joined OpenAI.
Armstrong replaces Liberatore and will also assume responsibilities from X's departing CFO, Mahmoud Reza Banki.
The appointment also comes as xAI prepares for a new funding round that could value the company at nearly $200 billion.
From Wall Street To Washington To xAI
Before joining xAI, Armstrong headed global technology M&A at Morgan Stanley, where he worked on major deals including Musk's Twitter purchase.
He later served briefly in the Donald Trump administration as a senior adviser to the Office of Personnel Management under Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk is also doubling down on his AI ventures following reports that xAI recently laid off about 500 data annotation workers as it pivots toward specialist roles to accelerate the development of its Grok chatbot.
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