• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 12, 2024

What's in a name? That which we used to call Twitter no longer smells as sweet, according to just-released brand equity valuation platform Brand Finance, which this morning downgraded the value of X's brand to just $673 million, an 88% decline from the $5.7 billion Twitter had when Elon Musk acquired it for $44 billion.

As a result, Brand Finance has dropped X from its vaunted "Media 50" brand equity ranking for the first time since Twitter ranked on it.

The company said X's brand strength index score has also declined considerably by 12.7 points to 56.9/100, "signaling a major reputational crisis that the brand is struggling to overcome."

The downturn isn't just due to the brand name change from Twitter to X, but underscores advertisers’ concerns regarding X’s content moderation under Musk’s leadership.

The downgrade also comes on the heels of Musk's antitrust suit against the World Federation of Advertisers' self-regulatory Global Alliance for Responsible Media initiative, which the WFA has shuttered due to the burden of the suit.

“Musk’s controversial rebranding of Twitter has resulted in a dramatic and abrupt decline in brand value and strength," comments Brand Finance Managing Director Richard Haigh, adding, "The hasty abandonment of a globally recognized name, without a clear migration plan, has had disastrous consequences, alienating key stakeholders and eroding the brand’s core strengths. This is reflected in the brand’s weaker scores in the familiarity, reputation, and recommendation metrics of Brand Finance’s research."