BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk is toying with the idea of launching his own social network once again after rustling feathers at Twitter.
The world’s richest man sent shockwaves through the platform by suggesting a site called X.com could be on the cards.
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It comes as Musk, 51, faces a fiery legal battle against Twitter for dramatically pulling out of a $44billion buyout.
The SpaceX and Tesla founder simply responded, “X.com” when asked by another user whether he would consider launching his own social network if he’s not forced to go ahead with the Twitter deal.
At the moment, the website displays nothing but a single ‘x’.
The tease came after it was revealed that Musk had sold 7.92million Tesla shares worth $6.9billion in case he’s forced to buy Twitter.
X.com was actually an online bank Musk co-founded back in 1999 before it was merged with a similar service to become PayPal.
But Musk bought the X.com web address from PayPal’s owners Ebay.
“In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock,” he said.
It’s not the first time Musk has teased such an idea.
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In fact, just before he made a grab for Twitter, he asked fans whether they thought the social network was doing a good job of balancing free speech.
More than 70 percent voted ‘no’, which led Musk to ask: “Is a new platform needed?”
Little after that, he made a shock bid to become a lead shareholder of Twitter, before eventually upping to an all-out takeover.
It’s been a whirlwind few months for Musk and Twitter, as the billionaire decided to pull out of the deal in a dispute over fake account bots.
The entrepreneur believes there are far more bots on Twitter than officials claim and accuses them of not providing enough information to settle his purchase.
Unhappy with the backtracking, bosses have decided to take Musk to court.
Lawyers for both sides will go head-to-head in Delaware Chancery Court starting on October 17 and continuing for five days.
Twitter’s team had requested to begin the trial as early as September to prevent Musk from further disparaging the company.
Musk wanted things to start in February 2023, claiming a “warp speed” trial is an attempt to derail his argument the platform is cluttered with spambots.
Who is Elon Musk?
Here’s what you need to know…
Controversial billionaire Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971.
As a 12-year-old child he taught himself computer programming and sold the code of a video game to a PC magazine for $500 (£300).
At 17, he moved to Canada to study, before gaining two degrees in physics and business at the University of Pennsylvania.
At the age of 24 he moved to California to start a Ph.D. in applied physics and material science at Stanford University – but left the programme after just two days to pursue other projects.
Now 51, he is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, co-founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, co-founder and chairman of SolarCity, co-chairman of Opan AI, co-founder of Zip2 and founder of X.com, which merged with PayPal.
He’s also working on a human brain chip project called Neuralink.
Musk’s stated aim is to reduce global warming and save humans from extinction by setting up a colony on Mars.
The billionaire inventor is also working on the world’s largest lithium-ion battery to store renewable energy.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
