Twitter's rebranding as 'X' has an intriguing origin story that dates back to 1999, as revealed by Elon Musk's biographer.

Elon Musk's decision to rebrand Twitter as 'X' is not a random one; it has a fascinating backstory that traces back to 1999. At that time, Musk founded an ambitious venture called 'X.com,' with a vision to revolutionize the financial industry.

In his upcoming book, 'Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future,' biographer Walter Isaacson explores Musk's deep-rooted fascination with 'X.com.' At its inception, Musk envisioned 'X.com' as an all-encompassing platform, offering a wide range of financial services such as banking, digital purchases, credit cards, investments, loans, and more. He firmly believed that money is essentially data and aimed to create a secure system that would record all transactions in real-time. This ambitious vision led Musk to envision 'X.com' as a potential multitrillion-dollar company with the potential to disrupt the financial landscape.

According to Isaacson, the journey to build 'X.com' was marked by numerous challenges and tremendous pressure. Elon Musk set tight deadlines and pushed his colleagues relentlessly to meet them, driven by his unwavering determination to make 'X.com' a groundbreaking success. One of the features that gained immense popularity was the ability to send money via email, which found particular favor on eBay for making payments to strangers after purchases.

In an excerpt shared on Twitter, Isaacson described how Musk immersed himself in the office environment each day, even during Thanksgiving, exhibiting a nervous and intense energy. He spent most nights sleeping under his desk. One incident involved Musk calling an engineer who had gone home at 2 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning and asking him to return because another engineer had been working all night and was running on fumes.

After a merger with a company co-founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, 'X.com' transformed into the now-famous PayPal. However, Musk insisted on retaining the name 'X.com' as the parent company, underscoring his long-term vision of dominating the world's financial system.

In 2022, Elon Musk's interest in 'X.com' resurfaced, prompting him to plan the rebranding of Twitter with this iconic name. According to Isaacson, Musk sees Twitter's potential as the means to fulfill his original vision from 1999. The visionary entrepreneur envisions transforming Twitter into a unique fusion of financial platform and social network, utilizing the power of AI to offer services like payments, messaging, and more, effectively creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities.

Musk's decision to adopt 'X' as Twitter's new identity is a crucial step in his ambitious plan to turn the micro-blogging platform into a super app similar to China's WeChat, integrating a multitude of services and functions within a single platform.

The announcement of 'X' as the new face of Twitter has already initiated significant changes within the company. The familiar bird logo and the 'Twitter' brand name are being phased out to make way for 'X.' Twitter's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, has expressed enthusiasm about this transformation, highlighting the immense potential of 'X' to create a global marketplace and connect people in groundbreaking ways.