Elon Musk Taps Former Morgan Stanley Banker as New xAI & X CFO

Elon Musk has appointed Anthony Armstrong, a veteran banker from Morgan Stanley, as the new Chief Financial Officer of xAI, according to the Financial Times.  Armstrong will manage finance operations not only for xAI but also for the social media platform X, reflecting a closer alignment between the two entities. 

Armstrong previously advised Musk during the $44 billion Twitter acquisition, and has already been informally involved at xAI for several weeks.  His appointment comes amid a spate of executive exits at both xAI and X—most notably, the departures of xAI’s former CFO Mike Liberatore and X’s finance head Mahmoud Reza Banki. 

His mandate includes restoring financial stability to X, which has faced advertiser losses due to Musk’s loosening of content moderation policies.  At the same time, xAI is reportedly preparing for a new funding round that could value it at $200 billion, further underscoring the high stakes of this CFO appointment. 

This leadership shift signals Musk’s intensifying focus on building an integrated AI and social media platform under streamlined financial oversight—an essential move as he steers xAI toward greater scale and credibility.