Elon Musk Names Former Morgan Stanley Banker Anthony Armstrong As xAI CFO Amid $200 Billion Valuation Push: Report

Core Insights - Elon Musk has appointed Anthony Armstrong as the new CFO of xAI, his artificial intelligence firm [1][4] - Armstrong will manage financial operations for both xAI and the social media platform X, which Musk merged earlier this year, valuing the combined entity at approximately $113 billion [2] - The appointment comes as xAI is preparing for a new funding round that could value the company at nearly $200 billion [5] Leadership Changes - Armstrong replaces Mike Liberatore, the previous CFO of xAI, who left after conflicts with Musk's inner circle [4] - The leadership change follows several high-level departures within Musk's companies, including Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of X [4] Background of Anthony Armstrong - Before joining xAI, Armstrong led global technology M&A at Morgan Stanley and advised Musk on the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022 [6] - He briefly served in the Trump administration as a senior adviser to the Office of Personnel Management [6] Company Developments - xAI has recently laid off about 500 data annotation workers as it shifts focus towards specialist roles to enhance the development of its Grok chatbot [7]