X Corp. (formerly Twitter)

The idea for Twitter came from Jack Dorsey during a brainstorming session at podcasting startup Odeo in March 2006. Dorsey's original concept was a dispatch service — a way to broadcast your status to a small group. The first tweet was sent by Dorsey on March 21, 2006: "just setting up my twttr." The name Twitter was chosen because it described the short bursts of inconsequential information that birds make.

Jack Dorsey was removed as CEO of Twitter in October 2008 by co-founder Evan Williams, who took over the role himself. The official reason was that Dorsey spent too much time on personal interests — including fashion design and taking yoga classes during work hours. Williams later said Dorsey was simply not ready to run a company. Dorsey went on to found Square. Williams later said firing Dorsey was the right decision and the wrong decision simultaneously.

Jack Dorsey returned as Twitter's interim CEO in June 2015 after Dick Costolo resigned amid poor financial performance. Dorsey immediately laid off 8% of the workforce. Within months he was confirmed as permanent CEO. His return was polarising — many employees resented his part-time commitment to Twitter while he simultaneously ran Square full-time.

Elon Musk began buying Twitter shares in January 2022, eventually accumulating a 9.1% stake. He offered to buy the entire company for $54.20 per share — $44 billion total. Then tried to back out of the deal. Twitter sued him. A Delaware court ruled against Musk. On October 27, 2022, Musk completed the acquisition, walked into Twitter headquarters carrying a sink, fired approximately half the company within 48 hours, and changed the name to X.

Musk renamed Twitter to X in July 2023, replacing the iconic bird logo with a stylised X. The rebrand destroyed approximately $4 billion in brand value according to brand consultancies. Advertisers fled over content moderation concerns. Revenue fell by an estimated 50%. Musk described his vision for X as an "everything app" — a super-app combining payments, messaging, and social media in the manner of WeChat. Critics described it as a $44 billion experiment in destroying a working product.