X Corp.

X Corp.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Technology, Social media
Predecessor	Twitter, Inc.
Founded	March 9, 2023 (2023-03-09) in Nevada, United States
Founder	Elon Musk
Headquarters	Bastrop , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Elon Musk (Executive Chairman and CTO), Linda Yaccarino (former CEO)
Products	X (formerly Twitter), Vine (trademark), Periscope (trademark), X.com (trademark)
Owner	xAI (parent company since March 28, 2025)
Parent	xAI

X Corp. is a technology firm based in the United States, with its main office located in Bastrop, Texas. Founded by Elon Musk in 2023 as the successor to Twitter, Inc., it has operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of xAI since March 28, 2025, which Musk partly owns. The enterprise manages the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), positioning it as a versatile service that incorporates xAI’s AI technologies such as Grok and Aurora models. Additionally, it retains trademarks for platforms including Vine, Periscope, and X.com.

Initial Development and Strategy (2022–2023)

In April 2022, filings with the SEC disclosed that Elon Musk had established three Delaware-based entities: X Corp, X Holdings, and X Holdings Corp. One of these was intended to merge with Twitter, another to serve as the parent company overseeing the merged organization, and the third to administer a $13 billion bank loan used to finance Twitter’s acquisition.

The designation "X" originates from X.com, an online banking venture co-founded by Musk in 1999 that later merged with Confinity to create PayPal. In 2012, Musk contemplated using "X" as a holding company name for Tesla and SpaceX and reacquired the domain X.com in 2017. He reiterated his endorsement of the "X" brand in 2020 but dismissed the notion that X would absorb his other enterprises.

The vision for X became more defined in October 2022 when Musk described purchasing Twitter as "an accelerant to creating X, the everything app." His objective was to develop an application akin to WeChat—a unified platform combining messaging, social networking, and payment services—anticipating that Twitter would speed up this process by three to five years. Musk stressed transforming Twitter into a "digital town square" with extensive capabilities. During a Morgan Stanley conference in March 2023, he projected that X could evolve into possibly the "largest financial institution worldwide." On October 27, 2022, Musk completed the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and assumed the role of CEO.

Establishment (2023–present)

Elon Musk officially incorporated X Corp. in Nevada on March 9, 2023, simultaneously launching the artificial intelligence firm X.AI Corp. Later that same month, he submitted filings to merge X Holdings with X Holdings Corp. and to combine Twitter, Inc. with X Corp., designating X Holdings Corp. as the parent entity with an initial capital of $2 million. Musk revealed that employees of Twitter would be granted equity stakes in X Corp.

In court documents filed in April 2023 concerning a lawsuit brought by activist Laura Loomer, it was disclosed that Twitter, Inc. had been absorbed into X Corp., a Nevada-based corporation headquartered in Carson City.

On May 11, 2023, Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino as the chief executive officer of both Twitter and X Corp., entrusting her with overseeing business operations while he concentrated on product innovation and technology development. Musk assumed the roles of executive chairman and chief technology officer. Yaccarino officially stepped into her CEO position on June 5, 2023.

By May 2023, Fidelity Investments valued the enterprise at $15 billion, which rose to $27 billion by July and approximately $28.5 billion in August. The platform’s valuation recovered to $44 billion by March 2025.

In July 2023, X Corp. installed a prominent illuminated "X" sign atop its San Francisco headquarters without securing proper permits, resulting in citations from city authorities and eventual removal following complaints from nearby residents.

In August 2023, CEO Yaccarino asserted she maintained "operational autonomy" under Musk’s leadership and characterized the rebranding from Twitter to X as a deliberate "liberation" that allowed for innovation beyond mere incremental improvements.

In October 2023, the marketing firm X Social Media initiated a trademark infringement lawsuit against X Corp., challenging its use of the letter X.

On July 16, 2024, Musk announced that X Corp.’s headquarters would relocate from San Francisco to Austin, Texas, citing opposition to California laws concerning student privacy. Subsequent documentation dated September 13, 2024, confirmed the headquarters had moved to Bastrop, Texas.

On August 17, 2024, due to disputes over censorship policies, X Corp. suspended its operations in Brazil; the platform was blocked nationwide but reinstated access on October 8, 2024.

By late September 2024, Fidelity reported that X’s valuation had dropped by 79% compared to its worth at the time of Musk’s acquisition two years earlier.

In November 2024, Mahmoud Reza Banki was named as the company’s first publicly disclosed chief financial officer.

Effective January 1, 2025, X Corp. registered to conduct business in Texas under the name “X Internet Corp.” with CT Corporation System designated as its registered agent.

In February 2025, Musk sought additional funding at a valuation of $44 billion, matching the original acquisition price.

On March 28, 2025, Musk announced that xAI completed an all-stock acquisition of X valued at $33 billion (rising to $45 billion when including $12 billion debt), with xAI’s valuation set at $80 billion; both companies became subsidiaries under the newly established X.AI Holdings Corp.

On July 9, 2025, Linda Yaccarino declared her resignation from the company.

Center for Countering Digital Hate

On June 1, 2023, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) reported that X—previously known as Twitter—had neglected to address 99% of hate speech originating from Twitter Blue subscribers. The report highlighted tweets containing allegedly racist, homophobic, neo-Nazi, antisemitic, or conspiracy-related content.

X Corp. responded by reaffirming its dedication to diversity and freedom of expression in a blog post asserting that "over 99.99% of post impressions are healthy." The company accused CCDH of disseminating "false and misleading claims" potentially detrimental to advertising partnerships and labeled CCDH’s findings a "scare campaign" that relied on "out-of-context" metrics to support unverified allegations against X.

Following this dispute, X initiated legal proceedings against CCDH and the European Climate Foundation, which it claimed supplied data for CCDH’s research, denying all charges leveled against it.

On March 25, 2024, District Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the suit as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), granting CCDH’s motion to strike and stating: "This case is about punishing the Defendants for their speech."

Antisemitism

On November 16, 2023, Media Matters for America revealed that X was running advertisements from firms such as Apple, IBM, and Oracle alongside content promoting pro-Nazi views. After Elon Musk publicly supported an antisemitic conspiracy theory, significant advertisers including Microsoft and Apple exited the platform, resulting in an estimated revenue decline of approximately $75 million by the close of 2023. In response, X Corp. filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, accusing the organization of manipulating the platform to place ads adjacent to "fringe" material due to excessive user scrolling and algorithmic feed management.

Litigation

In August 2024, Omid Kordestani, former executive chairman of Twitter (now X Corp.), initiated legal action against X Corp. in California Superior Court, asserting that Elon Musk refused to release over $20 million in shares owed as compensation. This lawsuit followed a March 2024 case brought by four former Twitter executives who claimed Musk withheld severance payments exceeding $128 million.

During the same month, X filed a suit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), accusing it of orchestrating a coordinated effort to withhold billions in advertising revenue through boycotts by companies such as CVS, Unilever, Mars Inc., and Ørsted. The complaint alleged this conduct constituted an unlawful exercise of market power in violation of antitrust laws. Subsequently, GARM announced its closure, citing insufficient resources. In February 2025, an amended complaint expanded the list of defendants to include Nestlé, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, and Shell International, accusing them of "celebrating" X’s diminished performance amid the ongoing advertising boycott.