Twitter was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. The platform launched as a microblogging service allowing users to post short messages (initially limited to 140 characters, later expanded to 280). Twitter grew into one of the world's most influential social media platforms, particularly for real-time news, public discourse, and direct communication between public figures and their audiences.
Twitter went public on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2013, raising approximately $1.8 billion in its IPO. The company struggled with profitability throughout its public life, facing challenges with user growth, advertising revenue, and content moderation.
Elon Musk began purchasing Twitter shares in early 2022 and disclosed a 9.2% stake in April 2022, making him the largest individual shareholder. Musk initially agreed to join Twitter's board of directors, then declined, then made an unsolicited offer to acquire the company for $54.20 per share ($44 billion total) in April 2022.
Musk attempted to terminate the acquisition agreement in July 2022, citing concerns about the number of bot accounts on the platform. Twitter sued to enforce the merger agreement. Musk ultimately completed the acquisition in October 2022 for $44 billion, financing it with approximately $13 billion in debt and $33 billion in equity from himself and co-investors.
Immediately after completing the acquisition, Musk fired Twitter's CEO Parag Agrawal and other senior executives. He then conducted mass layoffs, reducing Twitter's workforce from approximately 7,500 to approximately 2,000 employees.
Musk implemented significant changes to Twitter's content moderation policies, reinstating previously banned accounts (including former President Donald Trump's account), reducing the size of the trust and safety team, and changing the platform's approach to content moderation.
In April 2023, Musk merged Twitter, Inc. into X Corp., a newly formed entity. In July 2023, the platform was rebranded from Twitter to X, with the iconic Twitter bird logo replaced by an X logo. The rebranding was controversial, with many users continuing to refer to the platform as Twitter.
X Corp. introduced X Premium (formerly Twitter Blue), a paid subscription service offering features including a blue verification checkmark, longer posts, and reduced advertising. The company also introduced advertising revenue sharing for creators.
For fiscal year 2024, X Corp. reported estimated revenue of approximately $2.5 billion, significantly below Twitter's approximately $5 billion in revenue in 2021 before the acquisition. Advertising revenue declined as major advertisers paused spending on the platform following content moderation concerns.
In late 2024, Musk announced plans to merge X Corp. with xAI, his artificial intelligence company, in a deal that valued X Corp. at approximately $33 billion.