Elon Musk has begun the bizarre rebranding of Twitter to “X”, pledging to strip the website of its instantly recognizable bird logo and light blue color scheme.
However, analysts and branding agencies have warned the move could wipe between $4 and $20 billion off the company’s value, according to a report by Bloomberg.
“It took 15-plus years to earn that much equity worldwide, so losing Twitter as a brand name is a significant financial hit,” Steve Susi, director of brand communication at Siegel & Gale told the outlet.
Elon Musk bought Twitter in October of last year for $44 billion but has admitted the company is in the red following a heavy debt burden and loss of ad revenue.
On Sunday, the tech billionaire announced he would scrap Twitter’s name, famous bird logo, and light blue color scheme in favor of X – a new logo was created by a fan over the weekend.
Twitter’s CEO Linda Yaccarino outlined a vision to transform the site into what has been dubbed an “everything app” for messaging, audio, video, payments and banking.
However, the website spent the last 15-plus years becoming a household name with words like “tweet” and “retweet” commonly used to describe how information is communicated in the digital world.
X will now have to rebuild that branding from scratch, although this could be part of the draw for Elon Musk.
The attempt at rebranding has been seen by some as a way to get users to stop comparing Twitter to before and after Musk’s takeover.
“It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression,” Yaccarino tweeted.
Still, the company Brand Finance estimates Twitter’s brand value at $3.9 billion – 32 percent down since Musk’s takeover but nothing to sniff at for a company which, by Musk’s admission, is bleeding cash.
According to Bloomberg, Vanderbilt University values Twitter’s brand value at a staggering $15 to $20 billion.
As the perception of Twitter has changed advertisers, under pressure by groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, have fled the site. Musk has admitted ad revenue is down around 50 percent since his October takeover.
With drastic changes likely needed to get the company back in the black, it remains to be seen if Musk’s radical rebranding will pay off for the social media giant.
Follow our social media accounts here on http://facebook.com/ExpressUSNews and ExpressUSNews
