Elon Musk Twitter account displayed on a cellphone display screen and Twitter brand displayed on a display screen within the background are seen on this illustration photograph taken in Krakow, Poland on November 22, 2022.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Pictures
Twitter CEO Elon Musk stated Sunday that the previous few months have been “extremely tough,” however stated the social media firm is “now trending to breakeven.” CNBC was not capable of independently confirm this declare.
Musk, who can also be CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said in a tweet that he has needed to “save Twitter from bankruptcy” whereas additionally fulfilling his roles at his different corporations.
“Wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone,” he wrote. “Twitter still has challenges, but it is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it. Public support is much appreciated!”
Twitter and Musk didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
Since buying the corporate for $44 billion late final 12 months, it has been a rocky takeover for “Mr. Tweet,” a nickname Musk just lately embraced.
In line with tech e-newsletter Platformer, Twitter’s each day income was down 40% year-over-year in January 2023, and tons of of Twitter’s high advertisers have halted or pulled again on spending. One agency estimated that Twitter’s advert income decline was as steep as 70% in December, year-over-year, Reuters reported.
A few of the adjustments that Musk carried out at Twitter, like restoring the accounts of controversial figures together with neo-Nazi web site founder Andrew Anglin, resulted in manufacturers’ departure from the platform, and an outcry from civil rights leaders.
Musk acknowledged in a November tweet that the company suffered a “massive drop in revenue” after advertisers paused spending on the social media platform.
On the finish of 2022, Musk claimed that Twitter was now not “in the fast lane to bankruptcy,” but it surely nonetheless wasn’t “secure” throughout an episode of the All-In Podcast with long-time mates of his, who’re additionally traders in Twitter, angel investor Jason Calacanis and Craft Ventures co-founder and accomplice David Sacks.
Twitter has been sued for failure to pay numerous companions, distributors and former staff since Elon Musk took over. In a single instance, Florida-based Personal Jet Companies sued Twitter for failure to pay $197,725 for its transportation companies. In one other case, the owner of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters workplace sued the company after it allegedly did not pay round $6.8 million in hire in December and January.
Below Musk’s administration, Twitter has slashed headcount via mass layoffs, different terminations and inner adjustments that compelled many to resign, together with the top of a work-from-home forever policy that was put in place beneath former CEO Jack Dorsey.
Labor legal professional Shannon Liss-Riordan has filed tons of of calls for for arbitration and a proposed class motion lawsuit towards Twitter on behalf of affected staff. In line with a January tweet, she is arguing that former Twitter staff who have been laid off or pressured to resign are owed extra severance than Musk’s crew provided them.
In addition to chopping prices, the corporate has tried to drum up new strains of income or revenue. Twitter auctioned off every little thing from kitchen supplies to office equipment in January of this 12 months.
The corporate additionally launched — and relaunched — an up to date Twitter Blue subscription service in December, after Musk had pulled and delayed the service in November. Musk determined, extra just lately, to cost researchers for access to the company’s API and to cast off all free entry to it.
The centi-billionaire has confronted vital shareholder backlash at Tesla for being distracted, for borrowing talent from Tesla to assist him at Twitter, for stirring up political controversy at Twitter, and for promoting billions of {dollars} value of his Tesla shares to finance his Twitter takeover.
In a tweet Sunday, one Twitter person expressed concern about how a lot Musk has had on his plate.
“I’m worried about me too,” Musk wrote in response.
—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny has contributed to this report.
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