Twitter Inc. has merged with a new formed shell company called X Corp., a move that has raised questions about what Elon Musk plans to do with the social media platform. Bloomberg cited that according to court documents filed in a lawsuit brought against the company by conservative activist Laura Loomer, Twitter "no longer exists" after being merged with X Corp.
It is unclear what the implications of this merger are for Twitter, which has undergone significant changes since Musk purchased the company for $44 billion last year.
Musk has previously hinted that buying Twitter would accelerate the creation of his "everything app" called X. He has described his vision for X as similar to China's WeChat, which is a super app used for messaging, payments and booking event tickets. However, Musk has been vague about how X will fit in with his other businesses, which range from electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc. to Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
The merger with X Corp. was submitted on March 15, according to the Bloomberg report. Musk is the president of X Corp. and its parent company, X Holdings Corp., which was also created last month and has an authorised capital of $2 million.
Some experts have noted that incorporating in Nevada is often done to limit fiduciary obligations. Ann Lipton, associate dean at Tulane University's law school, stated that "It's just harder to sue officers and directors of Nevada companies for breach of fiduciary obligations if you're an investor."
Mandeep Singh, an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, suggested that Musk could create a parent structure similar to Alphabet, where he has all his companies. However, Singh also noted that he does not see how Musk can layer e-commerce or payments into Twitter when larger companies like Alphabet and Meta have struggled to become an everything app on the consumer side.