Author: Cryptonaitive
As one of the most ambitious entrepreneurs of our time, Musk's every move is under the spotlight.
Musk’s latest move is to completely change the classic “little blue bird” LOGO of the old social media Twitter.
As the originator of social media, Twitter was founded in 2006. Its name was taken from the chirping sound of birds. Since its inception, the "little blue bird" has been used as Twitter's visual logo, but now it has been replaced by a striking white "X".
Musk posted a photo of himself smiling with his arms raised and crossed on July 23, writing: "Not sure what the subtle clue was that gave this away, but I like the letter X."
Musk's fascination with the letter "X" began with one of his early business ventures, according to Ashlee Vance, author of the 2015 biography "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Better Future."
Musk's "X" past
In 1999, Musk founded his second business and bought the domain name X.com as the company's official website. Regarding the domain name X.com, Ashlee Vance, author of "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Better Future," said, "Everyone advised him not to name the company because it contained sexual connotations, but he really liked the name and insisted on it."
X.com was an online banking and financial services platform. According to Walter Isaacson's upcoming biography of Musk, "Musk's vision for X.com was grand. It would be a one-stop shop for all financial needs: banking, digital purchases, checks, credit cards, investments, and loans. Transactions would be processed instantly, without waiting for payments to clear. Musk's insight was that money was just an entry into a database, and he wanted to devise a way for all transactions to be securely recorded in real time."
A year later, in 2000, X.com merged with another project created by Elon, Paypal, and Musk resigned as the company's CEO. In 2001, the new company was renamed PayPal, and the business center was also transferred to Paypal, and X.com withdrew from people's sight. In 2002, eBay acquired Paypal for $1.5 billion, and Musk received $165 million in after-tax income.
Notably, this was the first time Musk used the letter X, but not his last.
The story of "X" is far from over
SpaceX, the space company founded by Musk in 2002, uses the letter "X". The official name of SpaceX is Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, and SpaceX is the abbreviation. After years of hard work, SpaceX has achieved many major successes. In 2010, SpaceX successfully launched and recovered the cargo Dragon spacecraft into low Earth orbit for the first time. In 2012, the Dragon spacecraft began to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, which was also the first commercial cargo spacecraft in history. In March 2017, Falcon 9 became the first liquid-fuel rocket that can be reused multiple times. On April 20, 2023, the SpaceX Starship made its first flight and achieved partial success.
Musk's electric car company Tesla used the letter X in its SUV Model X launched in 2015. It is reported that Model X is "the first SUV to receive a five-star safety rating in every category and subcategory tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration."
Musk bought back the X.com domain from PayPal in 2017 (the URL has now been redirected to Twitter). Musk wrote on Twitter in 2017, "Thanks to PayPal for allowing me to buy back X.com! No plans to do so at this time, but it has great sentimental value to me."
Musk even named his child after the letter "X". In 2020, Musk and his then-girlfriend Claire Boucher gave birth to a baby boy and named him X Æ A-12. However, due to California law, the name on the birth certificate must use the "26 English letters", so Musk changed the child's name to X AE A-XII. Claire Boucher said in an interview with Bloomberg that Musk called their child "Little X".
In March 2023, Musk merged Twitter with a new entity, X Corp, with the letter X in its name. It is reported that X Corp is a private company whose parent company is X Holdings.
After ChatGPT became popular, Musk also chose to enter the AI field and used the letter X again. On July 12, 2023, Musk launched his own artificial intelligence startup xAI. According to the company's website, its goal is to "understand the true nature of the universe."
Although there are many companies or products under Musk that do not have X in their names, such as Boring Company, Falcon Rockets, Hyperloop, Neuralink, Solar City, etc., it is an indisputable fact that Musk is extremely fond of "X".
So here comes the question.
Why Musk loves "X" so much
There are many reasons why Musk likes "X" so much.
First, let’s look at the X.com domain name. This is a very cool Internet address that Musk obtained during the golden age of the Internet when he started his early business. It has a special “sentimental value” for Musk. Moreover, the X.com domain name is very valuable because there are only 26 single-letter .com domain names in the world. X.com is also very suitable for ambitious and innovative companies.
Second, X may represent the character and qualities that Musk identifies with.
"X is simple, straightforward and free of pretense and frills - just like our approach to financial services," the X.com website states.
Someone also asked "Why does Musk like the letter X" on the American question-and-answer website Quora. One of the respondents said that he had contact with Musk for several hours at the Model S launch conference. He said, "Musk gave people a cold feeling, but not unpleasant, just direct and polite, without airs or disguise. When talking to a small group of us, he answered our questions sincerely, but when someone asked him what he obviously thought was a stupid question, he did not hide his thoughts. What is most striking is how these personal qualities are reflected in the overall corporate culture of Tesla Motors. Musk has a very serious, direct, and "get things done" personality, and this is the atmosphere of the company."
Musk also agrees with some other explanations. Musk's girlfriend Claire Boucher once explained on Twitter why their child was named X. She said that the X in the child's name refers to the "unknown variable" in algebra.
X stands for both "unknown variable" and "Everything".
Before acquiring Twitter in 2022, Musk said, "The acquisition of Twitter is an accelerator for creating X, the Everything app."
X.com Revival: Twitter Becomes a Super App
Remember Musk's original idea for X.com? Twitter was the hope for X.com's revival.
Musk is making an all-around transformation of Twitter, and reshaping the Twitter brand is just one step in Musk's grand plan.
The transformation was entirely expected given Musk's big bet on Twitter, which he acquired for a record $44 billion in 2022.
Musk's grand goal is to turn Twitter (or more precisely "X") into a one-stop application, which he calls the "Everything App." Just like China's WeChat, which Musk has praised many times, it is a super APP that integrates social networking, news, subscriptions, digital transactions, taxi booking, and financial services.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X/Twitter, said, “X is the future state of limitless interactions — centered around audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunity. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’ve only begun to imagine.”
Recent regulatory documents show that X Corp. has obtained financial-related licenses in some states in the U.S. According to Musk's vision, X.com will eventually support financial and payment functions, and even cryptocurrencies (such as Dogecoin, which Musk strongly promotes).
As Musk claimed in a recent tweet, "The name Twitter made sense when only 140 character messages were sent back and forth. … In the coming months we will add the ability to fully communicate & handle the entire financial world, & the name Twitter no longer makes sense in that context. We must say goodbye to this bird."
It's time to say goodbye to Twitter.