On Monday, Twitter owner Elon Musk rebranded the company, changing its name to “X” and ditching the Twitter bird.
What effect it has on the business is yet to be seen, but other famous companies have switched names, survived and thrived.
Here are a few examples:
Apple (Apple Computers): Founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne incorporated Apple Computers in 1977. Thirty years later, the company became more than just a computer store when it branched out into iPhones, iPods, iPads and more. In 2007, Apple Computers became Apple.
Google/Alphabet (BackRub): Google began as BackRub in 1996, but changed its name to Google a year later. Google was rebranded a second time and became Alphabet in 2015. According to the company, Alphabet was meant to be the name of a holding company for the company’s other businesses.
Meta (Facebook): In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, announced that the company would be known going forward as Meta. “Meta, brings together our apps and technologies under one new company brand. Meta’s focus will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses,” the company said in a press release when the name change was announced.
Nike (Blue Ribbon Sports): Blue Ribbon Sports was born in Beaverton, Oregon, in 1964. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman opened the business to distribute running shoes. They later decided to make their own shoes and called the shoe “Nike.” Soon, the business’s name was changed to honor the shoe. Nike is the name of the Greek winged goddess of victory.
Pepsi-Cola (Brad’s Drink): Founded by a pharmacist in 1893, Pepsi-Cola began life as Brad’s Drink, named after the man who developed it, Caleb Bradham. The company kept the name for only five years before it was renamed Pepsi-Cola.
Subway (Pete’s Super Submarines): The sub shop was originally named after Dr. Peter Buck, the man who gave the business’s founder, Fred DeLuca, $1,000 to help get his restaurant off the ground.
WW (Weight Watchers): The weight loss company decided to move away from just promoting weight loss and more toward promoting wellness and changed its name from Weight Watchers to WW in 2018. According to the company, the initials do not stand for anything in particular.
