Elon Musk rebrands Twitter to ‘X,’ replaces iconic bird logo

Technology

An effigy of Elon Musk is seen on a mobile device with the X and Twitter logos in the background in this photo illustration on 23 July, 2023 in Warsaw, Poland. 
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Twitter owner Elon Musk officially changed the company’s famous bird logo to an “X” on Monday as part of a sweeping rebrand he announced on the social media site over the weekend.

Musk, who acquired the platform for $44 billion late last year, wrote in a post Sunday that the company would soon “bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.” As of Monday, the domain X.com directs users to Twitter’s homepage, though Twitter.com also remains live. Branding in the mobile app has not changed for many users yet.

The transition from Twitter to X reflects Musk’s vision to turn the platform into what he has called an “everything app.” Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote in a post Sunday that X will be “centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking.” She added that the platform will also be powered by artificial intelligence.

The company first began its transition to X in April, when the name of Twitter Inc. changed to X Corp., according to court filings.

Musk, who serves as executive chairman and CTO of the company, said Monday that tweets will now be called “x’s,” though when asked about what retweets would be called, he wrote that the “concept should be rethought.”

He shared a photo of the X logo projected onto the company’s headquarters Monday.

The Tesla CEO tweeted Sunday that he likes the letter “x,” and his affinity for it isn’t new, according to his other business ventures. SpaceX, Musk’s rocket manufacturer, also features an X as its logo, and Musk recently launched a new artificial intelligence startup called xAI, with the lofty goal to “understand the true nature of the universe.”

Musk also co-founded PayPal, which was previously called X.com before it rebranded in 2001. He repurchased the domain from PayPal in 2017.