Late Saturday evening, Elon Musk the owner of Twitter Inc, took to the social media platform to reveal that the iconic blue bird logo, which has long been associated with the company, will soon be undergoing a transformation. Musk, who acquired Twitter for a staggering $44 billion approximately six months ago, has been on a mission to revamp the company’s image, recently merging it into a new entity known as X Corp.
In a tweet, Musk declared, “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make go live worldwide tomorrow,” suggesting a swift implementation of the logo change. Furthermore, he expressed his desire to bid farewell not only to the Twitter brand but also to gradually phase out the use of bird imagery altogether.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023
Despite Twitter’s brand toolkit page, which hails the light-blue bird as its “most recognizable asset” and offers guidelines on its usage, Musk seems to hold a contrasting opinion. During a brief appearance on Twitter Spaces, he candidly expressed his dissatisfaction with the current logo, stating, “It should have been done a long time ago.” To emphasize his commitment to the redesign, he humorously mentioned using blowtorches to cut the Twitter logo off the building, a reference presumably aimed at the already altered sign at the company’s San Francisco headquarters.
While Musk’s efforts to reshape Twitter have been met with much anticipation, stakeholders haven’t been without concerns. Fidelity, a major shareholder, marked down the value of its holding in the company by two-thirds back in May, and ARK Investment Management, led by Cathie Wood, has written down its stake by 47%, as confirmed in her recent interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Earlier in March, Musk had expressed optimism about the company’s financial prospects, stating that Twitter was on the verge of making its advertising more relevant and expected to break even on a cash-flow basis during the second quarter. However, these predictions proved overenthusiastic, as Musk recently tweeted that Twitter’s cash flow still remained negative. He attributed this setback to a substantial 50% drop in advertising revenue, coupled with the weight of the company’s debt load.
As Twitter eagerly awaits its impending logo change, it remains to be seen how this transformative move will play out for the company and its stakeholders in the long run.