Twitter has been putting out its own fires ever since Musk took over after the acquisition. Even with new leadership under Linda Yaccarino, the social media company can't seem to find its footing. Just recently, Musk revealed that Twitter ad revenue is not doing so well.
Ad Revenue is Down
Elon Musk's efforts to make Twitter profitable have not been very effective, some of which are even harming the company even more. The company's troubles with the ad department, it appears, are getting worse as it plunged down by 50%.
A Twitter user who goes by @netcapgirl suggested that Musk should get a consortium that understands his vision for the social media site, as well as have them "buy the debt then do a tender/exchange offer for convertible notes."
The former Twitter CEO responded by saying that the company was still "negative cash flow" because of the 50% drop in ad revenue and heavy debt load, adding that they'll have to reach positive cash flow before having the luxury of doing anything else.
The decline in ad revenue is not a surprise, considering that the company has seen several big advertisers leave the platform already before. Their departure came after Musk's "free speech" vision brought on a slew of tweets with derogatory content.
The company has to pay a whopping $1.5 billion annual interest to pay for the debt Musk took in order to acquire the company, as mentioned in Engadget. $1.5 billion may not be a big deal for the tech billionaire, but paying that sum to keep a failing company is not very appealing.
Twitter has been dropping in value ever since Musk purchased it for $44 billion. Just recently, reports state that Twitter is now only a third of the value it was purchased with, which means that Musk is out a couple of billion and might lose even more.
The timing of the information is also unfortunate as the tech billionaire just announced that creators on Twitter will soon share a portion of the ad revenue. The program was announced this February 2023 and the payouts are due last week.
Ad Revenue Payout for Creators
Through Twitter, Elon Musk announced that the company will be sharing its ad revenue with creators for the ads that appear in their threads. However, the perk is only available to those who have verified accounts, meaning that they have to pay for Twitter Blue.
Creators will have to reach certain metrics before they could be eligible for the revenue. For one, they need to have at least five million impressions on Twitter for all of their posts in the span of three months.
According to The Verge, some accounts stand to earn $2,200 up to $10,000 for it. Although it might be a large sum, Twitter has not disclosed the percentage of the creators' cut in the total ad revenue. Still, it's a good start for Twitter to regain the followers they may have lost.
