# OK, rebranded as X but how did Elon get x.com? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 28, 2023, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714 "2023-07-28T02:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714/1 "2023-07-28T02:12:13Z")
On a lark I entered [x.com](http://x.com) thinking that it, and all the other one-letter TLDs, had been snapped up decades ago. I was surprised that it redirects to [Twitter.com](http://Twitter.com). Did Elon just pay someone millions to register that domain name? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714/2 "2023-07-28T02:15:55Z")
He’s apparently held it for quite a long time, back when he was hoping to use it for PayPal. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714/3 "2023-07-28T02:15:58Z")
He got it by buying it in 1999. > **[X.com](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.com)** > > X.com was an online bank co-founded by Elon Musk, Harris Fricker, Christopher Payne, and Ed Ho in 1999 in Palo Alto, California. In 2000, X.com merged with competitor Confinity Inc., a software company also based in Palo Alto. Elon Musk was interested in Confinity because of its easy payment system. The merged company changed its name to PayPal. eBay bought PayPal for US$1.5 billion in 2002. In 2015, PayPal was spun off and became an independent company. As of July 23, 2023, the website redirec... ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714/4 "2023-07-28T05:27:02Z")
John and Exene must be pissed. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714/5 "2023-07-28T06:38:00Z")
You snooze, you lose, says the hungry wolf. They have [xtheband.com](http://xtheband.com). Musk paid $1M for the domain in 1999 - I don’t think they’d have gone that high at any point in their career. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714/6 "2023-07-28T12:08:52Z")
> [@epbrown](#): > > Musk paid $1M for the domain in 1999 - I don’t think they’d have gone that high at any point in their career. And then spent unspecified millions re-buying it from Paypal back in 2017 ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714/7 "2023-07-28T13:08:53Z")
Genius and visionary are the two words that immediately spring to mind. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-rebranded-as-x-but-how-did-elon-get-x-com/987714/8 "2023-07-28T17:25:09Z")
Interesting. I was working for network solutions that year. I managed the system that sent him the bill.