--- title: "Musk says Twitter will change logo to X, ‘bid adieu’ to bird" description: "Twitter owner Elon Musk said the social media company will change its logo soon, getting rid of the blue bird that’s long been its signature." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "Business Maverick" author: "Bloomberg" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-07-24-musk-says-twitter-will-change-logo-to-x-bid-adieu-to-bird/" published: "2023-07-24T05:59:35" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 445 --- # Musk says Twitter will change logo to X, ‘bid adieu’ to bird > Twitter owner Elon Musk said the social media company will change its logo soon, getting rid of the blue bird that’s long been its signature. By Bloomberg · Published 24 July 2023, 07:59 SAST ## Key points - Elon Musk's Twitter rebranding mission continues, as he announces an interim X logo and the merging of Twitter into an entity called X Corp. with the goal of creating an "everything-app" - all that remains to be seen is if the light-blue bird will continue to fly. - Elon Musk has acquired Twitter for $44-billion and merged it into an entity called X Corp. - An interim X logo will be posted on Sunday, with the service envisioned as an AI-powered “global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities”. - Musk is cutting off the Twitter logo from the company's San Francisco headquarters and changing his bio on the site to “X.com”. - The brand overhaul coincides with pressure from new challenger Threads by Meta Platforms Inc., while Fidelity and ARK Investment Management have written down their stakes in Twitter. ## Content “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we'll go live worldwide tomorrow,” Musk [tweeted](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1682965462886535168) late on Saturday. Roughly six months after he acquired Twitter for $44-billion, he [merged the company](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-11/twitter-becomes-x-corp-as-musk-advances-everything-app-hopes) into an entity called X Corp., saying Twitter is an accelerant to building an everything-app called X. An interim X logo is [coming](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1683171310388535296) on Sunday, he said in a later message. The X service is envisioned as an AI-powered “global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities”, recently appointed Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino added in a note retweeted by Musk on Sunday. It would include payments and banking alongside audio, video and messaging. “Soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk wrote in [another post](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1682964919325724673). He didn’t say whether he would try to get users to do away with the term “to tweet”, which has entered the public lexicon. He also changed his bio on the site — where he now has 149 million followers and 111 paying subscribers to his account — to “X.com”. That web address now points to Twitter. Musk’s brand overhaul coincides with pressure from new challenger Threads by Meta Platforms Inc. Mark Zuckerberg’s offering racked up 100 million users in [less than five days](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-10/meta-s-threads-app-reaches-100-million-users-days-after-launch) after launching at the start of this month. Threads uses people’s Instagram accounts and functions like a simpler, currently advertising-free version of Twitter. [pic.twitter.com/IwcbqMnQtA](https://t.co/IwcbqMnQtA) — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) [July 23, 2023](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1682978324375543808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Twitter still has [a brand toolkit page](https://about.twitter.com/en/who-we-are/brand-toolkit) on its website calling the light-blue bird its “most recognisable asset”. While that page says the company is protective of its logo and offers guidelines on how to use it, Musk apparently isn’t a fan. “It should have been done a long time ago,” he said during a brief [Twitter Spaces](https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1dRKZMMdOLzxB?s=20) appearance, referring to changing the logo. “We’re cutting the Twitter logo off the building with blowtorches,” he said, referring to the sign he’s [already altered](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1645266104351178752?s=20) on the company’s San Francisco headquarters. Musk’s many changes to Twitter so far haven’t worked out well for stakeholders. Fidelity in May marked down the value of its holding in the company [by two-thirds](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-30/twitter-is-worth-33-of-musk-s-purchase-price-fidelity-says), while Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management has written down its stake [by 47%](https://www.wsj.com/articles/cathie-woods-ark-writes-down-twitter-stake-by-47-407b83d4?), she told the *Wall Street Journal*last week. In March, Musk suggested the company was turning a corner by making its advertising more relevant. He said Twitter had [a chance to break even](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-07/musk-says-twitter-may-be-cash-flow-break-even-in-second-quarter) on a cash-flow basis in the second quarter. That prediction was over-optimistic. Musk tweeted earlier this month that Twitter’s cash flow was still negative and blamed a roughly 50% drop in advertising revenue, along with the company’s debt load. **DM**