There are few better ways to signal corporate distress than a rebrand. Last year, Elon Musk spent $44bn buying Twitter, a midsized social media company. Jettisoning its globally recognised brand does nothing to address the lossmaking company’s problems. But as new names go, X is better than most. It is short, arresting and unmistakable.
Name pivots are common across early stage US tech companies. Amazon began life as Cadabra, Snapchat started out as Picaboo and Instagram’s prototype was called Burbn. Twitter, which was born out of a company called Odeo, was once spelled Twttr.
But rebrands in later corporate life are different. From tobacco seller Philip Morris to Facebook, they tend to highlight problems they are designed to cover. They risk annoying and confusing customers. The direct financial cost, including domain name purchases, can be high.