Elon Musk rebrands Twitter, calls tweets ‘X’s and here’s why

Elon Musk rebrands Twitter, calls tweets ‘X’s and here’s why

Elon Musk unveiled a new “X” logo to replace Twitter’s blue bird as he follows through with a major rebranding of the social media platform.

“Soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk tweeted Sunday.

The X started appearing at the top of the desktop version of Twitter on Monday, but the bird was still appear across the app on your phone. Musk, however, said tweets will be known as Xs.

Musk had asked fans for logo ideas and chose one, which he described as minimalist Art Deco, saying it “certainly will be refined.” He replaced his own Twitter icon with a white X on a black background and posted a picture of the design projected on Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters.

The X.com web domain now redirects users to Twitter, Musk said.

Musk, CEO of Tesla, has long been fascinated with the letter and had already renamed Twitter’s corporate name to X Corp. after he bought it in October, per The New York Times.

The billionaire is also CEO of rocket company Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly known as SpaceX. He started an artificial intelligence company this month called xAI to compete with ChatGPT. And in 1999, he founded a startup called X.com, an online financial services company now known as PayPal.

Musk has wanted to create what he’s dubbed an “everything app” similar to China’s WeChat, which combines video chats, messaging, streaming and payments.

Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino addressed the change in a memo, obtained by NBC News, Monday that applauded employees for their hard work.

She wrote that X will continue to develop experiences in video, audio, messaging, banking and payments that will “delight” users.

“Please don’t take this moment for granted,” Yaccarino wrote. “You’re writing history, and there’s no limit to our transformation. And everyone, is invited to build X with us.”

Check out the full memo at CNBC.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.