Ok, here is the scoop. I called Anne on the phone, and asked her directly about this story, and it is true. The reason for the change was for ‘brand identity’. ‘Xe’ is definitely different and this was voted on by the leadership at Blackwater.
I asked Anne if they had any other names they were playing with, and she could not comment at this time.
As for the meaning- Xe is the chemical element symbol for Xenon, a colorless, heavy, odorless noble gas. Xenon occurs in the Earth’s atmosphere in trace amounts.
Or maybe they are going for the greek general Xenon, or going off the greek meaning of the word Xenon ‘stranger’. Either way, this is a very interesting choice of word or symbol.
And I have to say, the inside joke I see in all of this, and I do not know if it was intentional or not, is that the musician Prince changed his name to a symbol as well. At least we can pronounce Xe. LOL
They have also changed the name of their training site and it is now called US Training Inc. Interesting stuff. –Matt
——————————————————————
APNewsBreak: Blackwater dumps tarnished brand name
By MIKE BAKER – 1 hour ago
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticized work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe.
The parent company’s new name is pronounced like the letter “z.” Blackwater Lodge & Training Center — the subsidiary that conducts much of the company’s overseas operations and domestic training — has been renamed U.S. Training Center Inc., the company said Friday.
The decision comes as part of an ongoing rebranding effort that grew more urgent following a September 2007 shooting in Iraq that left at least a dozen civilians dead. Blackwater president Gary Jackson said in a memo to employees the new name reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security.
“The volume of changes over the past half-year have taken the company to an exciting place and we are now ready for two of the final, and most obvious changes,” Jackson said in the note.
In his memo, Jackson indicated the company was not interested in actively pursuing new private security contracts. Jackson and other Blackwater executives told The Associated Press last year it was shifting its focus away from such work to focus on training and providing logistics.