Posts Tagged: financial

Twitter’s rebrand to X could worsen its legal and financial problems

Twitter’s rebrand to X is well underway. The name and iconic bird logo have been (mostly) stripped from the company’s San Francisco headquarters, and an “X” has replaced the blue bird atop twitter.com. Elon Musk has said the change is about more than just the name. He wants to turn the service formerly known as Twitter into an “everything app” that also encompasses banking and financial services.

But the rebrand could pose significant legal and financial challenges to the company, which has struggled since an advertiser exodus cut the company’s ad revenue by more than 50 percent. To start, there are hundreds of companies, including Microsoft and Meta, that own trademarks for variations of “X.” That could open the door to lawsuits and other legal headaches for Musk.

Shubha Ghosh, a law professor at Syracuse University, says that lawsuits are “quite common” when major companies rebrand and change their names and logos. “I'm kind of surprised he picked X because it's not that distinctive,” he says. “It's problematic in the sense that it's not something you can just suddenly do without anybody noticing and possibly suing.”

Trademark attorney Josh Gerben told Reuters that he counted almost 900 other companies with trademarks on “X.” And while not all of them will be able to credibly claim that the company formerly known as Twitter is interfering with their brand, it makes X an easy target.

“There is about a 100% probability that Twitter/X will be sued by both opportunistic and legitimate plaintiffs over the new name,” Gerben tweeted. “The company could easily spend tens of millions (if not $ 100+ million) in legal fees and settlement costs attempting to acquire trademark registrations for ‘X’ and in dealing with the litigation that is likely to result from the rebrand.”

For the same reasons, Twitter’s new X branding could also prove difficult to defend, especially internationally. “The chance that @elonmusk will be able to successfully register a trademark for ‘X’ for all the services he intends to provide, in every country he wants to provide them in, is very low,” Gerben wrote.

Even if Twitter is able to fend off legal challenges, there are serious business risks to doing away with a brand as globally recognizable as Twitter’s. Bloombergreported that some analysts have estimated the name change could wipe out billions of dollars in value from a brand that’s already been damaged by Musk.

Ari Lightman, a professor of digital media marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, says Twitter’s problems go far beyond potential legal headaches brought on by its rebrand. “There's a lot going on that is diminishing the value, the utility, the uniqueness, that Twitter, now X, has in the space,” he says pointing to the rise of Threads and other Twitter competitors. “Tweets are synonymous with this idea of blogging, or microblogging, it's going to be very difficult to resocialize a concept with the global population.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitters-rebrand-to-x-could-worsen-its-legal-and-financial-problems-233914973.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Elon Musk says he has the financial backing for his proposed Twitter takeover

Elon Musk now has access to the funds he'd need to buy Twitter. According to an SEC filing, Musk has received "commitment letters" that would supply about $ 46.5 billion to buy all of Twitter's outstanding common stock and take control. The Tesla CEO is "exploring" this tender offer following a lack of response from Twitter, the filing reads.

We've asked Twitter for comment. While the company hasn't directly addressed Musk's offer, initially pegged at $ 43 billion, it recently approved a temporary "poison pill" measure intended to discourage hostile takeovers. The plan would let some shareholders buy more stock if anyone buys more than 15 percent of outstanding stock without the board of directors' approval, diluting the value of Musk's stake. He's already the largest individual shareholder with 9.2 percent ownership.

Musk made the offer claiming that it was meant to protect free speech, and has suggested he could unlock Twitter's potential with features like an edit button (which Twitter was already working on) and an open source algorithm. However, it also comes as the executive fights the SEC over alleged finance rule violations that frequently relate to his tweets. The entrepreneur has multiple strong incentives to purchase Twitter, and the financial backing illustrates just how serious he is.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Xiaomi’s 2019 financial report is in, signals huge growth

Xiaomi published its 2019 financial report. Even with plenty of hurdles in 2019, the company is reporting significant growth. Yearly revenue came in at CNY 205.8 billion — (USD $ 29 billion) — marking the first time that Xiaomi has passed the 200 billion milestone. Revenue is great — it means the company is doing more […]

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SEC brings charges in connection with hack of its financial system

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it is bringing charges against a Ukranian hacker for breaking into the agency's corporate filing system to access nonpublic information. The SEC is also charging a number of in…
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LeEco layoffs affect 325 employees, pauses U.S. expansion amid financial crisis

It could be months before we see what’s next for LeEco. It might even be 2018 by the time we see anything new. With its cash spent and little revenue coming in, the company announced today its expansion in the United States is on hold indefinitely. Hundreds of employees have been laid off while the […]

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Samsung’s Galaxy S8 iris scanner may help users unlock financial transactions

New reports out of Korea indicate there may be some growing interest from financial firms like banks or credit card companies to incorporate iris scan security into the methods used to secure financial transactions. Iris scanning may be familiar to more users now with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ which […]

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Here are nine apps for the tech-savvy financial planner or investor

Looking to start investing or managing your money, but don’t care for intricate software or spreadsheets? Here are nine apps to help you better manage your money directly on your smartphone.

The post Here are nine apps for the tech-savvy financial planner or investor appeared first on Digital Trends.

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Sharp tells its workers to buy its products to help dig it out of financial hole

Struggling Sharp has told its workers to buy a load of Sharp stuff this holiday season to help dig it out of its financial mess. The Japanese electronics maker has even offered guidelines suggesting how much money different types of workers should spend.

The post Sharp tells its workers to buy its products to help dig it out of financial hole appeared first on Digital Trends.

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