Twitter no longer exists: Here’s what happened

Twitter Inc is no longer a legal entity after it was merged with newly formed shell firm with X Corp, according to a 4 April document submitted in a California court for a lawsuit filed against the company and its former chief executive officer, Jack Dorsey, last year by conservative activist Laura Loomer, as reported by Bloomberg. 

Billionaire Elon Musk bought the company for $44 billion last year and broke the news through a cryptic tweet that included the letter "X". 

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Since Musk bought the social media platform, its future has been unclear. After buying Twitter, Musk suggested that the platform would be an “accelerant” for creating X –  “an everything app.” Musk has said that he wanted to make it similar to China’s WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd, which is used for a myriad of services from payments and booking event tickets to messaging, according to Bloomberg. 

However, Musk has been unclear about how the plans will fit in with his business empire, ranging from the electric car giant Tesla Inc. to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. 

X Corp. was set up on 9 March in Nevada and Musk is the president of the company, while X Holdings Corp. is its parent company with an authorised capital of $2 million. The recent changes were first reported by Slate. 

“Musk could create a parent structure, similar to Alphabet, where he has all his companies,” said Mandeep Singh, an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence said in the Bloomberg report. “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.”

Since Musk’s takeover, Twitter has gone through many changes. Last week, for instance, Musk removed Twitter's signature blue bird logo and replaced it with the Doge meme. He also removed the letter "w" from the company name outside its San Francisco office.

Earlier this month, the social media platform removed verified blue checkmarks, making them available only for users who paid for the Twitter Blue service. 

Amidst the current upheaval, Musk is also advancing an artificial intelligence project at Twitter even though he recently called for a global pause in developing such technology, an AFP said.

Musk has bought thousands of powerful, expensive computing processors and hired AI engineering professionals, as reported by Insider. According to the Information, another tech-focused website, Musk has considered starting a rival to ChatGPT.

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