Photo by 9yz (CC BY-SA 4.0)
X
The bird app, bought for $44B and rebranded. Now an X product inside xAI, which SpaceX acquired in 2026.
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Twitter was the nervous system of global public discourse — and Musk paid $44 billion for it on a conviction that its management had corrupted its original mission. He fired half the staff in a week, banned then unbanned the former president, rebranded the iconic bird, and declared war on every advertiser who objected. Whether the acquisition was visionary or catastrophic depends entirely on your theory of free speech and platform power. What is undisputed: X under Musk is louder, faster, more algorithmically chaotic, and far less predictable than anything Silicon Valley has produced since the original social media gold rush.
Founding Story
Twitter was founded in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams — Glass coined the name. The original product was a group SMS tool; the 140-character limit came from SMS message constraints. It IPO'd in November 2013 at $26 per share, rising 73% on the first day.
Musk disclosed a 9.2% stake in April 2022 and submitted a formal takeover offer of $54.20 per share — $44 billion, all cash — in April 2022. The deal nearly collapsed in July 2022 when Musk cited bot-count concerns. Facing a Delaware court trial, he completed the acquisition on October 27, 2022. He walked into headquarters carrying a kitchen sink.
Within a week, the CEO, CFO, and General Counsel were fired. Within two weeks, roughly 3,700 employees — 50% — were laid off. The platform was renamed X in July 2023. In March 2025, X Holdings merged into xAI.
- Apr 4, 2022Discloses 9.2% stake in TwitterMusk files with the SEC disclosing he has accumulated a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the largest individual shareholder. The disclosure comes days after the mandatory 10-day w…
- Apr 25, 2022$44B Twitter acquisition deal announcedTwitter's board unanimously agrees to Musk's $54.20/share all-cash offer, valuing the company at $44 billion. The offer is financed through personal equity, equity from investors, …
- Jul 2022Twitter sues Musk to enforce acquisitionTwitter files suit in Delaware Court of Chancery after Musk attempts to terminate the $44B deal, citing bot misrepresentation. The case is set for an expedited trial in October 202…
- Jul 8, 2022Musk attempts to terminate Twitter acquisitionFiles a notice of termination with the SEC, alleging Twitter misrepresented the number of spam bots. Twitter sues in Delaware Court of Chancery to force the deal to close.
- Oct 27, 2022Twitter deal closes — Musk takes controlMusk walks into Twitter HQ carrying a porcelain sink, tweeting 'Let that sink in.' He immediately fires CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and board member Bret Taylor.
- Nov 2022Major advertisers pause Twitter spendingGeneral Motors, IPG clients, Pfizer, and dozens of other major advertisers pause spending on Twitter following content moderation uncertainty and hate speech concerns after Musk's …
- Nov 4, 2022Twitter mass layoffs — ~50% of staffApproximately 3,700 of Twitter's 7,500 employees receive termination notices by email. The rapid cuts affect trust and safety, engineering, and content moderation teams.
- Nov 9, 2022Twitter Blue verification chaosTwitter relaunches the paid Blue subscription with a blue checkmark for $8/month. Fake verified accounts impersonating companies (Nintendo, Eli Lilly, Tesla) proliferate immediatel…
- Nov 19, 2022Trump's Twitter account restoredFollowing a user poll showing 51.8% in favor, Musk restores Donald Trump's account, suspended since January 6, 2021. Trump does not immediately return to Twitter, preferring Truth …
- Dec 2, 2022Twitter Files — first installment publishedMatt Taibbi publishes the first Twitter Files thread showing internal discussions about the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020. Musk coordinates the relea…
- Jul 23, 2023Twitter rebrands to XThe Twitter name, bird logo, and @Twitter handle are retired. The platform becomes 'X', the domain X.com redirects to the platform, and the app is renamed. The rebrand is widely mo…
- Mar 28, 2025X folds into xAI in all-stock dealX Corp is acquired by xAI in an all-stock transaction valuing xAI at $80 billion and X equity at $33 billion, combining Grok with X's distribution and data.
- Feb 2, 2026SpaceX acquires xAISpaceX acquires xAI in an all-stock transaction, combining rockets, Starlink, X distribution, Grok, Colossus, and proposed space-based AI compute under the SpaceXAI umbrella.
Overview
Twitter was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams (Glass coined the name). It IPO'd in 2013. Elon Musk acquired it in October 2022 for $44B ($54.20/share) — among the most acrimonious takeovers in tech history, including a four-month attempt by Musk to back out and a Delaware lawsuit forcing the deal closed. Within a week, ~50% of staff were laid off. Musk rebranded the platform to X in July 2023 (changing the bird logo to a stylized X) and pursued an "everything app" strategy: Premium tiers, creator monetization, long-form video, a payments layer, and integration of Grok across the product. On March 28, 2025, X was acquired by xAI in an all-stock deal; after SpaceX acquired xAI on February 2, 2026, X became part of the broader SpaceXAI stack.
Elon's Role
Hires Linda Yaccarino as CEO.
Original Founders
Key Milestones
- Mar 21, 2006founding
First tweet by Jack Dorsey
'just setting up my twttr' — the platform's genesis.
- Nov 7, 2013ipo
Twitter IPO
$26 IPO price; opens at $45.10. Raised $1.8B.
- Apr 4, 2022other
Musk discloses 9.2% stake
Becomes Twitter's largest shareholder; offered board seat (declined).
- Apr 25, 2022acquisition
Musk-Twitter deal announced
$44B all-cash takeover at $54.20/share.
- Jul 8, 2022lawsuit
Musk attempts to terminate
Cites bot count disputes; Twitter sues in Delaware Chancery Court.
- Oct 27, 2022acquisition
Deal closes
Musk takes Twitter private after Delaware judge issues firm trial date.
- Nov 4, 2022controversy
Mass layoffs
~3,700 employees (≈50%) laid off in single round.
- Nov 19, 2022controversy
Trump account restored
After 22 months suspended; user poll cited as basis.
- Jul 23, 2023product
Rebrand to X
Bird logo retired; X.com domain restored. Long-rumored 'everything app' framing.
- Mar 28, 2025acquisition
X merges into xAI
X Holdings folded into xAI in an all-stock deal valuing X equity at $33B.
- Feb 2, 2026acquisition
X becomes part of SpaceXAI
SpaceX's acquisition of xAI brings X under the combined SpaceXAI umbrella.
Notable Tweets
“Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in!”
Tweeted alongside a video of Musk walking into Twitter HQ carrying a kitchen sink, the day before the $44B deal closed.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
The thesis paragraph from Musk's Twitter acquisition statement, also tweeted as a soundbite.
“And lo, it came to pass that the bird was freed.”
Announcing the restoration of Donald Trump's Twitter account, after a user poll on Musk's account voted 51.8% in favor.
Predictions
I expect Twitter revenue to double within a year.
Twitter/X revenue fell significantly in 2023 due to the advertiser boycott and reduced subscription uptake.
I'll release the Hyperloop design as an open-source concept. If someone can build it, I hope they do.
The Hyperloop Alpha paper was published August 2013 as promised. Multiple companies (Virgin Hyperloop, Hyperloop One) pursued the concept, though none have built commercial lines.
SpaceX will build a 1-mile test track for Hyperloop competition pods and open it to university teams.
SpaceX built the Hyperloop test track in Hawthorne and hosted several Pod Competition rounds in 2016-2019.
Controversies & Disputes
"Funding secured" — SEC lawsuit and settlement
lawsuit2018On August 7, 2018, Musk tweeted "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." The tweet briefly spiked TSLA stock before regulators intervened. The SEC sued Musk and Tesla for securities fraud, alleging the tweet was false and misleading — no firm funding had been secured. The tweet is widely believed to have been partly a marijuana joke ($420) directed at a short-seller.
"Pedo guy" tweet — Vernon Unsworth defamation suit
lawsuit2018During the 2018 Thai cave rescue, British cave diver Vernon Unsworth publicly criticized Musk's proposed mini-submarine as a PR stunt. Musk responded by calling Unsworth a "pedo guy" on Twitter. After initially deleting the tweet, Musk doubled down in private emails to a journalist. Unsworth sued for defamation in federal court in California.
Twitter acquisition — Delaware court battle
lawsuit2022After signing a $44B agreement to acquire Twitter in April 2022, Musk attempted to walk away in July, citing concerns about the prevalence of bot accounts on the platform. Twitter sued in Delaware Chancery Court to force completion of the deal. Musk counter-claimed that Twitter had breached representations about its user base.
