Elon Musk on Saturday night dropped a bombshell that we probably never saw coming. The billionaire entrepreneur in a series of tweets posted on Saturday night revealed that he’s rebranding Twitter around nine months after acquiring the platform for $44 billion.
Musk shared that he will soon get rid of the name and the famous bird logo. Moving forward, he says the company will simply be known as ‘’X’’.
“And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” he Tweeted.
According to a report by Platformer’s Managing Editor Zoe Schiffer Musk is to have later that night emailed staff about the rebranding to ‘’X’’ adding that ‘’this was the last email he’ll ever send from a Twitter email address.’’
X
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 11, 2023
CEO Linda Yaccarino who joined Twitter just a month ago confirmed the rebrands noting that “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,”
“There’s absolutely no limit to this transformation. X will be the platform that can deliver, well… everything,” she said.
Abandoning the Twitter brand which users have come to be used to for seventeen years could be a risky move for Musk. Already, the company’s advertising revenues are falling. Musk in a recent reply to a tweet said Twitter has lost almost half of its advertising revenue.
“We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.” the tweet read.
What next for Twitter?
A rebrand could possibly push even more advertisers away but again, Elon has a fallback plan for the platform. Twitter could soon introduce payments and commerce through the platform as it seeks to generate more revenue.
The company is reported to have applied for regulatory licenses and is already designing software to support payment services.
Musk basically wants to make Twitter an everything app similar to China’s WeChat app. In China, WeChat users can use the app to make payments everywhere and for everything in mainland China. Other than this, the app also supports video and voice calling, translation services, mini apps including games, and support for e-commerce, among other things. This is what Musk envisions with Twitter.
What are your thoughts on the new direction Twitter is taking?
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