Elon Musk is feeling hopeful for the future of Twitter and says his social media company is “now trending to breakeven”, despite reports the company was down 40% year-on-year just last month.
The Twitter CEO expressed that the last few months have been “extremely tough” as he has had to “save Twitter from bankruptcy” while also carrying out duties at his other companies.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Musk, who is also juggling being a CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, claimed: “Twitter still has challenges, but it is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it.”
These comments have not been verified and Twitter has not responded to Verdict’s request for comment.
It’s been a difficult start to business for the self-proclaimed “Chief Twit” since acquiring the company for $44bn at the end of 2022.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataTwitter’s daily revenue was down a worrying 40% year-over-year in January 2023, according to Platformer.
It comes after controversial Musk made some questionable changes to the platform, which led to hundreds of Twitter’s once-essential advertisers pausing or completely cutting their spending on the site.
Some of the changes included restoring the accounts of controversial figures, including, Canadian podcaster Jordan Peterson and neo-Nazi website founder Andrew Anglin, leading to an outcry from civil rights groups.
Musk claimed his “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach” policy means that hate speech on the platform will not be promoted, but users can still seek it out.
“No different from the rest of the internet,” Musk previously said.
The new policy and changes didn’t fare well economically, with Musk tweeting in November that the company had suffered a “massive drop in revenue”.
However, Musk seemed a bit more hopeful towards the end of the year, claiming the social media company was no longer “in the fast lane to bankruptcy,” but kept it clear that it still was in no way “secure”.
On top of this, Twitter’s headcount has declined dramatically through brutal mass layoffs and resignations under Musk’s management. Many of which came after Musk’s termination of former CEO Jack Dorsey’s policy allowing employees to work-from-home forever.
Expensive legal troubles didn’t end when Musk finally acquired the company, either. The platform has been sued several times by vendors, former employees and partners since Musk’s takeover, CNBC reported.
Just last week, Innisfree M&A Incorporated, an advisory firm that advised the social media platform on its sale to Elon Musk last year, sued Twitter seeking $1.9m in what it says are unpaid bills.
Besides fighting legal battles and slashing costs, Musk has been attempting to fill in the gaps of missing revenue with some new ones of his own – even auctioning off Twitter’s office equipment and kitchen supplies in January.
However, the most notable new attempt at revenue for the company is the launch – and then relaunch – of the updated Twitter Blue subscription service in December.
The new service allows users to purchase a blue tick for a monthly price, promising their posts a wider reach and other benefits.
More recently, The Information reported that Twitter is considering charging brands $1,000 a month to keep their golden checkmark, a badge that lets users know Twitter has verified the brand as “legitimate”.
GlobalData is the parent company of Verdict and its sister publication.
