X.com (bank)

{{About|the defunct online bank|the social media site|Twitter||X.com (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox company

| name = X.com

| logo = X.com logo.svg

| logo_size = 150px

| logo_alt =

| type = Private

| founded = {{start date and age|1999|3}}
Palo Alto, California, U.S.

| founders = {{unbulleted list|Elon Musk |Harris Fricker |Christopher Payne |Ed Ho}}

| defunct = {{start date and age|March 2000|}}

| revenue =

| alexa =

| issn =

| oclc =

| fate = Merged with Confinity

| successor = {{Plain list|

PayPal (banking activities)
X (URL usage)

}}

| footnotes =

| website = {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000408232656/http://www.x.com/|title=x.com}}

}}

X.com was an American online bank founded by Ed Ho, Harris Fricker, Elon Musk, and Christopher Payne in 1999 in Palo Alto, California. It merged with competitor Confinity in 2000 and the merged company changed its name to PayPal in 2001. Starting in 2023, the x.com domain began to be used for Twitter, which was acquired by Elon Musk in 2022 and subsequently rebranded to X.

Business model

X.com developed and operated a financial services website with banking services provided by First Western National Bank, an FDIC-insured bank in La Jara, Colorado.{{cite news|last=Markoff|first=John|author-link=John Markoff|title=Security Flaw Discovered at Online Bank|work=The New York Times|date=January 28, 2000|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/28/business/security-flaw-discovered-at-online-bank.html|access-date=2024-03-09}} The company was initially funded by Elon Musk and Greg Kouri, who went on to fund Musk's later ventures: Tesla and SpaceX.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2012/08/13/greg-kouri-early-investor-in-paypal-dies-in-new-york-2/|title=Grieg Kouri, early investor in PayPal, dies in New York|last=Hull|first=Dana|date=August 13, 2012|work=San Jose Mercury News|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112093035/http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_21304886/greg-kouri-paypal-early-investor-dies-new-york|archivedate=January 12, 2015|url-status=dead|accessdate=February 23, 2022}}

Customers were not assessed fees or overdraft penalties. New member referrals were rewarded with a $20 cash card and a $10 card for each new sign-up. These features were unique for their time. For instance, customers could send money to another person by entering their email address into X.com.{{sfn|Vance|2017|p=84}} Additionally, customers could open an account strictly with online registration with no need to mail a check.

History

Musk commented in a 1999 interview with CBS MarketWatch: "I think we're at the third stage now where people are ready to use the Internet as their main financial repository."

In January 1999, Musk sold his company Zip2 to Compaq. A month later, Musk invested about $12 million into co-founding X.com in March 1999 with Harris Fricker, Christopher Payne, and Ed Ho.{{sfn|Vance|2017|pp=78-81}}{{sfn|Soni|2022|p=52}} Fricker worked with Musk when Musk was an intern at the Bank of Nova Scotia, Payne was a friend of Fricker, and Ho was an engineer at Silicon Graphics and executive at Zip2.{{sfn|Vance|2017|pp=80-82}} The company was initially run from a house before moving to an office in Palo Alto.{{sfn|Vance|2017|pp=81-82}}

Due to conflict on how to run the company, Musk fired Fricker five months after X.com had started, and the other two co-founders, Payne and Ho left consequently. {{sfn|Vance|2017}}{{sfn|Soni|2022}}

X.com officially launched on December 7, 1999, with former Intuit CEO Bill Harris serving as the inaugural CEO.{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000303043526/http://www.x.com/news_harris.htm|archivedate=March 3, 2000|title=X.com Names Names Bill Harris President and CEO|url=http://www.x.com/news_harris.htm|publisher=X.com|date=December 7, 1999|accessdate=February 22, 2022|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000302010500/http://cbs.marketwatch.com:80/archive/19991210/news/current/x.htx|archivedate=March 2, 2000|title=X.com opens its virtual doors|url=http://cbs.marketwatch.com:80/archive/19991210/news/current/x.htx|last=Tolliver|first=Craig|publisher=CBS MarketWatch|date=December 10, 1999|accessdate=February 22, 2022|url-status=dead}} Within two months, X.com attracted over 200,000 signups.{{sfn|Vance|2017|pp=84-85}}

In January 2000, it was discovered that a security flaw allowed users of X.com who had the account number and bank routing number of any other bank account, even at other banks, could move money from that other account to their own and withdraw it. The problem existed for a month before it was discovered and corrected.{{Cite news |last=Markoff |first=John |date=2000-01-28 |title=Security Flaw Discovered at Online Bank |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/28/business/security-flaw-discovered-at-online-bank.html |access-date=2025-02-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

In March 2000, X.com merged with its fiercest competitor Confinity, a software company also based in Palo Alto which had developed an easy payment system named Paypal. https://www.newspapers.com/image/753758455/?match=1&terms=x.com%20paypal The new company took PayPal's name.{{sfn|Vance|2017|p=86}} Musk was its biggest shareholder and was appointed as its CEO. Started in 1998, PayPal enabled users with PalmPilots to send money to each other through the devices' infrared ports.{{sfn|Chafkin|2021|pp=51-52}}{{sfn|Vance|2017|p=85}} Subsequently, PayPal developed to allow users to send money using email and the web.{{sfn|Vance|2017|p=85}}

In September 2000, when Musk was in Australia for a honeymoon trip, the X.com board voted for a change of CEO from Musk to Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Confinity due to mismanagement on Musk's part. In June 2001, the x.com domain was changed to PayPal.com.{{sfn|Vance|2017|pp=88-89}}

Domain name

In July 2017, PayPal sold the domain x.com back to Elon Musk.{{Cite web |title=Elon Musk now owns X.com, the defunct domain of his second startup |last=Statt |first=Nick |work=CNBC |date= |access-date=18 September 2023 |url= https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/11/elon-musk-bought-x-com-from-paypal.html}} Starting in 2023, x.com began being used by Twitter which had been acquired by Musk in 2022 and subsequently rebranded to X.{{Cite news |title=From Twitter to X: Elon Musk Begins Erasing an Iconic Internet Brand |author= |work=The New York Times |date= July 24, 2023|access-date=18 September 2023 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/24/technology/twitter-x-elon-musk.html|last1= Mac|first1= Ryan|last2= Hsu|first2= Tiffany}}{{Cite web |title=Twitter is now X. Here's what that means. |author=Irina Ivanova |work=CBS News |date=31 July 2023 |access-date=18 September 2023 |url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitter-rebrand-x-name-change-elon-musk-what-it-means/}}

References

External links

{{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000408232656/http://www.x.com/|title=Official website}}