SINGAPORE – Twitter has ceased to be an independent company after merging with a newly formed shell firm called X, driving speculation about what billionaire Elon Musk intends for the social media platform.
Twitter “no longer exists” after being merged with X, according to an April 4 document submitted in a California court for a lawsuit filed against the company and its former chief executive Jack Dorsey in 2022 by conservative activist Laura Loomer.
It is unclear what the change means for Twitter, which has seen a sweeping overhaul since Mr Musk bought the company for US$44 billion (S$58.6 billion) in 2022.
Mr Musk has in the past suggested that buying Twitter would be an “accelerant” for creating X – which he dubbed an “everything app”.
He tweeted about the move on Tuesday with the single character, “X”.
The world’s second-richest man has professed his desire to make X similar to China’s WeChat, a super-app owned by Tencent used for everything from payments and booking event tickets to messaging.
But he has been vague about how it will fit in with his sprawling business empire, ranging from the electric car giant Tesla to Space Exploration Technologies.
Mr Musk also owns the domain “X.com” – the name of the online payments company he started and eventually merged with PayPal.
Mr Musk first set up a trio of holding companies in Delaware with a variation of the name “X Holdings” in April 2022 as part of his takeover bid for Twitter. But X was established on March 9 in Nevada, according to records filed in the state.
Its merger with Twitter was submitted on March 15.
Mr Musk is president of the company and its parent, X Holdings, which was also created in March and has an authorised capital of US$2 million, filings show.
“It is understood in the corporate world that incorporating Nevada is what you do if you want to have fewer fiduciary obligations,” said Professor Ann Lipton, associate dean at Tulane University’s law school. “It’s just harder to sue officers and directors of Nevada companies for breach of fiduciary obligations if you’re an investor.”
Twitter was previously incorporated in Delaware, and Mr Musk’s battle over acquiring the company took place in its Chancery Court.
Twitter, which no longer has a team handling media queries, did not immediately comment on questions sent by Bloomberg News.
Lawyers for the law firm representing Twitter in the case, Willkie Farr and Gallagher, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move sparked intense speculation on Twitter about what it meant, with Mr Musk’s tweet attracting more than 13 million views within hours.
In Japan, the topic “Twitter Gone” started trending, with users joking that Twitter’s new name will resemble that of a local rock band, X Japan.
“Musk could create a parent structure, similar to Alphabet, where he has all his companies,” said Mr Mandeep Singh, analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. “I don’t see how he can layer e-commerce or payments in Twitter right when larger peers such as Alphabet and Meta have struggled to become an ‘everything app’ on the consumer side.” BLOOMBERG
