Global Courant
Elon Musk plans to change Twitter’s logo to a bird “X” in what would be the last major change since buying the social media platform for $44 billion last year
By means ofANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer
FILE – A Twitter app icon on a cell phone is displayed in Philadelphia, U.S., April 26, 2017. Elon Musk plans to change Twitter’s logo to a bird “X” in what would be the latest major change since he bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
The associated press
NEW YORK — Elon Musk said on Sunday he plans to change Twitter’s logo to an “X” of the bird, which would be the latest major change since buying the social media platform for $44 billion last year.
In a series of posts on his Twitter account that began just after noon ET, the owner of Twitter said he wants to roll out the change globally starting Monday.
“And soon we will say goodbye to the Twitter brand and gradually all birds,” Musk wrote on his account.
Earlier this month, the CEO of the billionaire Tesla imposed a new curfew on his digital city square, a move that drew sharp criticism that it could drive away more advertisers and undermine his cultural clout as a trendsetter.
The higher tweet viewing threshold is part of an $8 per month subscription service Musk rolled out earlier this year in an effort to boost Twitter revenue. Sales have plummeted since Musk took over the company, laying off about three-quarters of its workforce to cut costs and avoid bankruptcy.
In May, Musk hired Linda Yaccarino, a longtime NBC Universal employee, as CEO of Twitter.
Luring advertisers is essential for Musk and Twitter, after many fled the social media platform in the first months after his takeover, fearing damage to their brands in the surrounding chaos. Advertisers have cut spending, in part because of changes Musk made that allowed more hateful content to flourish and offended a larger portion of the platform’s audience.
Musk said in late April that advertisers had returned, but did not provide details.
Musk’s move to change the Twitter logo to an “X” also comes as Twitter faces new competition from Meta’s new app, Threads, which launched earlier this month. It is seen as an alternative to those who have been on Twitter.
Threads is being billed as a text-based version of Meta’s photo-sharing app Instagram that the company has said offers “a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations.”
In the first five days after launch, 100 million people had signed up for Threads, according to a post on Threads by Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
