Elon Musk co-founded X.com in 1999 as an online bank before it merged with Confinity.
Musk launched X.com in March 1999 with Harris Fricker, Christopher Payne, and Ed Ho. The company aimed to provide banking services through the internet, including checking accounts and electronic payments. Its founding reflected Silicon Valley’s late-1990s enthusiasm for moving traditional financial services online.
X.com merged with Confinity in March 2000. Confinity had created an electronic-payment product that became PayPal, and the combined business eventually adopted the PayPal name. Musk served as chief executive for part of this period but was replaced before the company’s public offering.
A common mix-up is calling X.com the original name of PayPal without mentioning the merger. X.com was a separate online-bank startup, while PayPal originated inside Confinity. In 2023, Twitter was renamed X, reviving the earlier brand, but that later company is distinct from the 1999 financial startup.