The text discusses the evolution of Elon Musk's vision for x.com, a one-stop shop for financial services that he launched in 1999. It was initially a standalone company but merged with Confinity, the owner of PayPal, in 2000 due to disagreements over the company's direction. Musk was eventually forced out and left behind x.com and his ambitions for the site.
In 2017, Musk repurchased the domain, expressing sentimental value towards it. He held onto the ideas for over 20 years and now aims to bring them back to life with the acquisition of Twitter, renaming it X. Musk envisions X as a multi-functional app akin to WeChat, integrating social media, payment, and financial services. However, the path to realization is fraught with challenges, including the need to navigate legal rights, user perception, and financial sustainability. Despite these hurdles, Musk remains optimistic about the potential of X.
1. Elon Musk's favorite letter is X.
2. The billionaire's company Twitter has switched its name to X.
3. The URL for the new X is x.com, which has been in use since Musk started more than two decades ago.
4. Musk launched the original x.com in 1999 as a banking site after selling his first startup, Zip2.
5. In its conception, x.com was intended to be a one-stop shop for financial services.
6. Jimmy Soni, author of "The Founders", spent six years interviewing Musk and his colleagues about the early days of the company.
7. Musk thought x.com had advantages due to its shortness and usefulness for naming different products.
8. x.com merged with Confinity, the company that owned PayPal, in 2000, and the founders disagreed on several things, including the name.
9. The company wasn't making a profit yet and was reimbursing customers who had been defrauded online.
10. Musk was eventually forced out of the company and temporarily left behind x.com and his ambitions for the site.
11. In 2017, Musk repurchased the domain, tweeting that "it held sentimental value to him."
12. Musk says that the PayPal that emerged in the years after he left the company didn't match the vision he had for x.com.
13. Musk told the All-In podcast last year prior to his purchase of Twitter that he wanted to create an app that emulates WeChat from China.
14. Purchasing Twitter opened up another chance for Musk, giving him more to work with and a huge user base that had already grown accustomed to coming to Twitter on a daily basis.
15. Musk said in a tweet that the shift to X reflects Twitter's expanded capabilities since he took over the site.
16. Advances in tech since 1999 could help X succeed where x.com failed.
17. Some of the problems x.com faced in 1999, like the name and money issues, are still a problem today.
18. The site has struggled to win back advertising dollars it lost during Musk's takeover and it took on billions in debt during the sale.
19. Regulators have voiced concerns about social networks dabbling in finance.
20. Musk will have to deal with the hurdles and steps involved to become a bank or a financial institution.