Twitter Has Lost Over 50% Ad Revenue: Elon Musk

According to Elon Musk, Twitter continues to spend more than it earns.

Early Saturday morning, the billionaire entrepreneur revealed via a tweet that the company is grappling with a persistent negative cash flow problem, due in part to a nearly 50% decline in advertising revenue and substantial debt. “We need to achieve positive cash flow before we can consider any other luxuries,” stated Musk.

you should get a consortium together who understands your vision for this website (whether it’s more of a public utility or a business meant to generate cash flow is up to you) and have them buy the debt then do a tender/exchange offer for convertible notes w more favorable terms

— sophie (@netcapgirl) July 14, 2023

This acknowledgment came in the same week when Twitter’s ad-revenue sharing program initiated payments to some creators, including a few far-right influencers. Musk also predicted on Friday that the social media platform could witness “an all-time high in device user seconds usage” in the upcoming week.

Additionally, he mentioned that nearly all advertisers who abandoned the platform after his takeover in October have “either returned” or have “indicated their intent to return.”

Research firm Sensor Tower revealed to Bloomberg an estimate showing a drastic 89% decline in advertising expenditure to $7.6 million over a two-month span earlier this year. Additionally, Reuters reports that Twitter faces annual interest payments of approximately $1.5 billion, a result of the debt incurred when Musk privatized the company for $44 billion.

These recent developments indicate that Musk’s assertive cost-cutting strategies over the past year have fallen short of stabilizing the company’s financial situation. It further suggests that the newly-appointed CEO, Linda Yaccarino, faces significant challenges in her quest to restore Twitter’s advertising base.

Source: Engadget