Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter X: A Year in Review, how effective has the reorganized super app been?

October 27 marks the one-year anniversary of X platform under new ownership and management. CEO Linda Yaccarino shared "One Year on, X's Future is Bright" on the X blog, discussing recent developments and positions of X, which was acquired by Elon Musk for $44 billion and taken private. While Musk's life is always full of adventures and controversies, the acquisition of Twitter in the past year is definitely a fascinating process that could be turned into a novel or a movie. Let's take a moment to look back at the exciting events of this past year together!

Chinese version of "The Musk Biography" to be released on September 27: Unrestricted full disclosure, exclusive look into the acquisition of Twitter

$44 Billion Privatization of Twitter, Comprehensive Reform Undertaken

Elon Musk ultimately privatized Twitter at a price of approximately $440 billion, at $54.20 per share. Twitter's stock, TWTR, officially delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on 10/28. Musk confidently walked into Twitter's office carrying a water tank, and changed his Twitter bio to Chief Twit.

Musk shared his motivation for acquiring Twitter at the time:

Having a shared digital public square is important for the future of civilization, where various beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner without resorting to violence.

However, in order to reshape Twitter to Musk's liking, after the acquisition was finalized, Musk immediately fired the CEO and CFO, and nearly two-thirds of the original 7,500 employees left within 3 weeks. In the early stages of taking over, Musk not only had his confidants directly observe the work of Twitter engineers through code to decide on layoffs, but also used a willingness survey to let employees who could accept his Hardcore culture voluntarily stay by pressing the "join" button, while those who didn't fit in were let go with a severance package! According to a report in May, the number of Twitter employees has decreased to around a thousand.

Twitter privatized and removed from the S&P500! Musk takes over with a bold move, CEO and CFO reported to have resigned

Subscription for Verified Accounts with a Blue Checkmark

Prior to the acquisition, Musk, who found numerous spam and bot accounts on Twitter, announced after taking office, "Verified accounts will be charged $8 per month."

Musk emphasizes "universal blue checkmarks," where anyone can pay to become a verified account. However, for public figures, the system will still provide separate labeling. This move has the potential to directly increase Twitter's profits.

Twitter to charge $8 for blue checkmarks, aiming for inclusivity? Vitalik comments: Musk, this is the right move

Monetization of Content Initiated

In April of this year, Musk introduced a "content monetization" model to the community, stating that content creators' subscription revenue will be fully handed over to the creators in the next 12 months. Musk mentioned that Twitter will also help promote your creations to maximize the assets of creators.

This policy was officially launched at the end of July, covering multiple countries and regions worldwide, including Taiwan. However, in the past three months, creators must have accumulated at least 15 million views from their content. Technology journalist Brian Krassenstein, with 758,000 followers, shared the revenue he received in the first month, amounting to a staggering $12,632. He believes that consistently creating valuable content will yield returns.

Binance considers sharing ad revenue with Twitter accounts, technology journalists earning nearly tens of thousands of dollars monthly

New CEO: Linda Yaccarino, NBC Universal Advertising Executive

As Musk oversees multiple companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, among others, managing Twitter left him stretched thin, which also drew dissatisfaction from shareholders. After a majority vote in December of last year to "change the CEO" from the community, Musk finally announced on 5/12 that NBC Universal Advertising Executive Linda Yaccarino would take over as CEO of Twitter. Yaccarino will focus on business operations, while Musk will concentrate on product design and new technology. Together, they will work towards X Company's "everything app" goal.

Revealed in "The Musk Chronicles," Linda Yaccarino volunteered to take on the role of CEO to Musk, understanding his hands-on control style. She defined her role as "executing tasks for Musk" proactively! As a result, we still see Musk making significant decisions and leading X with a strong presence.

Musk announces new Twitter CEO: NBC Universal Advertising Executive Linda Yaccarino

Twitter Rebranded as X, Bid Farewell to the Blue Bird

Elon Musk tweeted on the evening of 7/23, "If an outstanding X logo appears tonight, we will globally implement changes as soon as tomorrow!"

X.com has always been a dream and regret of Musk's, as it was the name of his second startup payment company, which was eventually acquired and merged into PayPal. Musk bought back the domain X.com in 2017, and in October 2022, he stated that acquiring Twitter was to drive X, an app that encompasses everything. Musk has also compared it to WeChat multiple times, expressing his desire to build a super app. "X.com has a grander vision, and I believe Twitter will accelerate it by three to five years."

The following day, CEO Linda Yaccarino swiftly released the new logo "X," and the X.com domain was officially redirected to Twitter.com. The blue bird that Musk disliked bid farewell and entered history.

New X logo "X" unveiled! Twitter's blue bird exits history! Musk's grand dream with X.com initiated?

How has X performed in the past year?

According to CEO Linda Yaccarino's sharing on the X blog, X has shown the following performances in the past year while focusing on free speech and privacy/data protection:

• Driven by growth in video and community products, users spend over 32 minutes per day on X on average
• An average of approximately 1.5 million new registrations per day
• Since mid-May, all major institutions have lifted the advertising pause guidance on X, with over 1,700 advertisers returning to X last quarter
• Community Notes currently have over 100,000 contributors in 44 countries, making real progress in combating misinformation from all sides on X
• Over $20 million has been paid to the creator community - creators of all sizes are fueling the flywheel effect of X
• X hopes that funds on the platform flow as freely as information and conversation. X has obtained money transfer licenses in several states and is working on launching a faster global payment system

Yaccarino stated: This product innovation and business momentum are built on one of the most rigorous corporate restructurings in history. We are rebuilding our team and leadership to reflect the evolving needs of customers and partners. If we can achieve these goals in just 12 months, imagine our ambitions for the next year.

From expanding search to news and now to payments, we are just getting started.

Yaccarino also expressed gratitude to the passionate and ever-growing community, as well as all the teams, partners, and customers involved in this transformation. It can be said that Musk found a complementary CEO, which has brought back many advertisers to X. Her communication skills and motivational abilities should greatly benefit X's future!

Combatting AI-generated fake news! Twitter introduces Community Notes for videos

X obtains money transfer license in Rhode Island, Musk's ambitious dream continues!