Report: X Aims to Challenge YouTube, LinkedIn, PR Newswire

Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is reportedly setting its sights on challenging YouTube and LinkedIn as it expands its business lines into video and hiring.

X Owner Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino addressed the entire company in a Thursday (Oct. 26) meeting, outlining their vision for the future and their plans to take on these dominant platforms, Bloomberg reported Friday (Oct. 27), citing an unnamed source.

During the meeting, Musk and Yaccarino also revealed their intention to create a news wire service called XWire, which would directly compete with PR Newswire, according to the report.

Yaccarino, who joined X as CEO in May, previously held a leadership role at NBCUniversal, where she oversaw advertising and partnerships, the report said. Musk, the world’s richest man, acquired Twitter a year ago in a $44 billion deal and wasted no time making significant changes to the company’s executive team and staff.

However, these changes were not without consequences, per the report. Advertisers fled the platform, and X has been working to regain their trust. Despite this setback, both Musk and Yaccarino have highlighted the record amount of time users are spending on the platform and report having 500 million active users.

Yaccarino has been focused on rebuilding relationships with advertisers, while Musk has been revamping the product itself, according to the report. He introduced premium subscriptions, redefined account verification and implemented a community-driven fact-checking system called Community Notes.

Although details about X’s plans to compete with YouTube, LinkedIn and PR Newswire are scarce, Musk and Yaccarino told employees in a joint internal memo that the company is “now positioned for growth” and has achieved a “decade’s worth of innovation in just 12 months” on the platform, the report said. They also discussed X’s ambitions in the payments sector, aiming to provide financial tools that offer more opportunities for individuals and businesses.

In a Thursday post on the social media platform, the X account said the platform has added more than 100 features over the last 12 months while giving users that chance to weigh in and suggest ideas.

“Our goal is simple: to make X the coolest and most enjoyable place on the internet,” the post said. “This includes maximizing prosperity for content creators, enabling better/more authentic conversations and giving you more tools to express yourself.”