Musk: Twitter’s ad revenue down ~50%
Musk says Twitter has a “negative cash flow” and its advertising revenue has declined by about 50% amid a “heavy debt load” as competition between Twitter and Threads intensifies. This comes just as Twitter began paying content creators for posting advertisements. Some users are reporting payouts of over $100,000, and Musk himself says Twitter will pay creators $5 million through its first block of payments. It is unclear, though, which kinds of posts or which users are eligible for advertising payments, and some users have criticized the platform’s payout program.
We’re still negative cash flow, due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load. Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else.
We’re still negative cash flow, due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load. Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2023
Fidelity: Twitter worth 33% of Musk’s purchase price
According to Fidelity, which helped finance Musk’s purchase of Twitter, its valuation of its equity stake in the company puts the total value of Twitter at $15 billion, around 33% of what Musk originally paid for it. Fidelity downgraded its holdings in the company by 56% a month after the acquisition, by 63% in February 2023, and now by 66%. Musk’s investment in Twitter is now worth $8.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which uses Fidelity’s valuation to calculate the value of his holding. Musk spent more than $25 billion to acquire an estimated 79% stake in the company in 2022.
Shares fall
Twitter shares plunge on the New York Stock Exchange, dropping 5.6% to $29.27 which is the lowest level ever. The share price has fallen a total of 45% in four months. Co-founder Dorsey:
We haven’t done a great job at aligning the entire company around our total audience strategy.
Stock crashes after early earnings release
The Company’s stock crashes after financial analytics firm Selerity posts a quarterly report before the stock market closes. The report shows revenue growth at 74 percent in the quarter, which is below the company’s own forecasts. Twitter shares plunge on the news, and trading briefly halts so the company can disseminate its results. The drop steepens and the stock ends the day down about 18 percent. Executives attribute the slowdown to a transition to an advertising model that prices certain ads based on the result, such as whether the viewer downloaded an app, instead of whether the person simply clicks on it.