US company Twitter has lost almost half of its advertising revenue since last October when billionaire Elon Musk bought it for $44 billion. The company’s owner wrote on the social network of the same name. According to Musk, who also runs Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, Twitter did not see the expected revenue growth in June. But July was a bit more promising, Musk added.
In June, citing internal Twitter documents, CNBC reported that the company’s headcount had dropped 82 percent since Musk’s arrival to roughly 1,300 people. Musk then claimed that 2,300 employees and thousands of contractors work for Twitter. Critics point to loose moderation of content, for example, and some say the network is unreliable. For these and other reasons, Twitter faces a massive outflow of advertisers.
Most advertisers have moved away from the social network following changes to content moderation rules. In April, Musk suggested in an interview with the BBC that most advertisers had returned to the platform.
Threads has already gained 150 million users
The rival network Threads, launched earlier this month by Meta Platforms, now has an estimated 150 million users. Built-in connectivity with the Instagram platform automatically gives it access to two billion potential users. Twitter has around 350 million users.
Twitter is burdened by heavy debt while its cash flow remains negative, Musk said. The nearly 50 percent drop in advertising revenue was not closely timed. “We need to achieve positive cash flow before we can afford the luxury of anything else,” Musk said.
After massive layoffs, the entrepreneur has already said that Twitter is on track to report three billion dollars in revenue this year. In 2021, it had revenues of $5.1 billion.
Source: CTK
