The sharp devaluation of Twitter is now the new headache of controversial billionaire Elon Musk as the social media company is now worth less than half of what he paid for it six months ago.
Twitter’s CEO Musk inferred to staff that the company is now valued at less than $20bn, compared with the $44bn he paid for it in October 2022.
The firm’s steep depreciation comes after Musk’s stormy takeover. Numerous big advertisers have left the platform and a major source of funds for Musk’s purchase of the company, the investment firm Fidelity, has written down the value of its stake by 56%.
Elon’s email also said that before a flood of prominent, discordant layoffs the company had been about four months from running out of money.
Twitter’s headcount has been cut from about 7,500 to about 2,000 employees, according to figures Musk put forward in December.
Musk Memo
In his latest memo, he also told staff: “I see a clear, but difficult, path to a >$250B valuation,” which would imply a tenfold increase in share value.
In October, Mr. Musk took Twitter private, which means it is no longer obligated to provide transparency about its finances. But the billionaire has indicated publicly that the company lost revenue as advertisers fled the platform after his takeover and suggested that Twitter was in danger of bankruptcy.
Since taking over the social platform in October, the billionaire has reinstated the Twitter accounts of right-wing extremist, Nick Fuentes — although it has since been revoked.
Additionally, climate disinformation has drastically spiked in less than six months under Musk’s leadership, and the tech tycoon has also forced staff to suspend the account of a community activist.
In a report from The Wrap, it says:
With the Musk-mandated return of several formerly banned users, a rise in anti-Semitic and other hate speech, broken features and a disastrous blue check rollout that cost Eli Lilly millions, the platform has hemorrhaged advertisers. Many have left the platform for good, although ad revenue was unexpectedly up for 2022’s fourth quarter.
Early support shown for $5 million reparations to Black people in San Francisco
NOTE: Photo above is from YouTube screen grab
