Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday said that most advertisers that abandoned Twitter Inc after his US$44 billion acquisition have returned, suggesting that the struggling platform is regaining its footing.
Musk, speaking in a rambling Twitter Spaces interview with the BBC that played out before millions of listeners, reaffirmed that Twitter is operating at about breakeven and could become cashflow-positive as soon as this quarter.
More than 3 million concurrent users tuned in to the almost two-hour conversation, which at times became combative as the billionaire turned the tables on his interviewer and questioned the BBC’s track record on everything from COVID-19 misinformation to hate speech.
Photo: AFP
Twitter reported positive cashflow in July last year, its last earnings disclosure before the culmination of the tumultuous saga of Musk’s acquisition.
The company was saddled with billions of dollars of debt from the deal, so restoring it to profitability might go some way to validating the drastic cuts in staff and facilities that Musk made upon completion — although he has also been accused of failing to pay various company expenses, from office rents to former employees’ severance and former executives’ legal fees.
Musk said he only completed his purchase of Twitter last year because he was legally forced to do so, after the company’s board sued him to close the deal.
He later added that he probably would not sell Twitter even if offered the same price today.
Musk said that most advertisers were back on the platform, following an exodus triggered by mass firings and technical glitches that prompted concerns about the potential proliferation of hate speech, fake news and other objectionable content.
“Almost all of them have either come back or said they’re coming back,” Musk said.
Much of Tuesday’s session, which Musk said was hastily thrown together after a BBC reporter sent him an inquiry, touched on familiar ground. Topics included Musk’s thoughts about firing thousands, about which he said that it had to be done, his greatest challenges in the past six months, which he said were shutting one of three datacenters, and constantly shooting himself in the foot with impulsive Twitter posts, about which he said: “I need bulletproof shoes.”
The executive, whose other day jobs include running Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp, was evasive at times and brutally direct at others. Most of the questions centered on his thinking since launching a bid for the social media platform last year.
With respect to Twitter’s future, Musk said he does not see any social network surviving without paid verification. He was addressing criticism about Twitter charging US$8 for the blue check marks that once conferred legitimacy of organizations and public figures.
He reiterated his position that the payment barrier was the only workable way to avert misinformation bots swamping an online platform.
In a post-interview question-and-answer session with listeners, Musk also addressed Twitter’s merger with a newly formed shell firm called X Corp.
“Yes, there is something more to it,” the billionaire said.
He said he still wants to build X, an everything app akin to Tencent Holdings Ltd’s (騰訊) WeChat.
The meandering discussion touched on serious topics, such as the handling of sexism, to the absurd, with the billionaire repeatedly claiming his dog is now Twitter’s chief executive officer.
“I am not the CEO of Twitter. My dog is the CEO of Twitter,” Musk said with a laugh. “He’s got a black turtleneck, what more do you need?”
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