Elon Musk may be selling some X user handles for a minimum of $50000

According to a report, Elon Musk’s X is selling off old user handles for a massive price tag of $50000 and above.

There were talks of starting a marketplace on X where users can sell handles, but nothing concrete is known about it. However, reports suggest that Elon Musk's social media is selling off old user handles. (REUTERS)

X (formerly Twitter) is going through a transformative period. Recently, Elon Musk, the owner of the platform, revealed his plans to turn it into an ‘everything app'. The company is also releasing new features at a break-neck pace. Some of these features are also exclusive to the X Premium members, who pay a monthly subscription fee, to improve its revenue. Now, a new report has highlighted that X is also selling off old user handles to others at a massive price tag of $50000 and up. This revelation has emerged after some reports mentioned that X may actually start a marketplace where users can sell their handles to other users, and the platform takes a cut.

Forbes found emails from the team within the company that has started working on a project to create a marketplace “for the purchase of account names left unused by the people who originally registered them”. Additionally, it has also been reported that X sent out emails to users whom they have identified as potential buyers asking them for a flat fee that starts with $50000 in exchange for popular handles.

X is selling off old handles

The report also mentions that these emails “came from active X employees and noted that the company recently made updates to its @handle guidelines, process, and fees”. However, to protect the identity of the recipients, Forbes has not revealed the contents of the emails.

It turns out that Musk has been trying to create a username marketplace for months. In November 2022, Musk banned a large number of accounts that he found to be bots or trolls. When a user asked whether their handles were up for grabs, Musk said, “Some have simply been abandoned, but vast numbers of handles were consumed by bots/trolls. Aiming to start freeing those up next month”.

A New York Times report suggested that starting January 2023, Musk was already planning to sell off old user handles.

Now, it is not clear when the marketplace will be set, but it appears that X will keep some of the most lucrative options with itself so it does not just get a small commission off it, but can actually make money by selling it directly to potential buyers. If the report is to be believed, $50000 is just the bottom ceiling.