Twitter's advertising revenue in the United States plummets in worrying amounts due to the constant and controversial changes in the social network since Elon Musk took the helm and began to detect an increase in hate speech on the platform.
Twitter's U.S. ad revenue from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59% from a year earlier, according to research by The New York Times.
The outlet, which accessed internal company documents, notes that the company has regularly been below its weekly U.S. sales projections, sometimes by as much as 30%.
In addition, the company forecast that its U.S. ad revenue this month will show 56% lower figures each week compared to a year ago.
Despite the problems, Musk says Twitter is close to becoming a profitable business. (Photo: Reuters)
Twitter's ad sales staff are concerned that advertisers will pull out due to the rise of hate speech and pornography on the social network, as well as more ads for online gambling and marijuana-related products on the platform.
These problems will soon be the responsibility of Linda Yaccarino, a former NBC Universal executive whom Elon Musk appointed CEO of Twitter last month and, according to the specialized press, is expected to take office on Monday.
For his part, the social network's owner, Musk, said Twitter's advertising business was on the rise, that "almost all advertisers have returned" and that the company could soon become profitable.
Advertising is crucial for Twitter, as ads before Musk's arrival accounted for 90% of the company's revenue.
Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO of Twitter. (Photo: AFP)
After the arrival of the controversial businessman, large advertising agencies and brands, such as General Motors and Volkswagen, stopped their advertising investment on Twitter.
Musk said in May that Twitter was on track to post $3 billion in revenue in 000, down from $2023.5 billion in 100, when the company was still listed on Wall Street.
In March, Musk said the company — which he bought for $44 billion — was worth $000 billion, but last week, hedge fund giant Fidelity, which owns shares in Twitter, valued the company at a lower figure: $20 billion.
Twitter's economic problems
Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, California. (Photo: AFP)
But Twitter's economic woes aren't new. And they are not new to Musk, who took office knowing that the platform was carrying a debt of 13 million dollars.
The tycoon's ideas don't seem to have worked either. Twitter Blue, the paid subscription that was going to be an important source of income, does not seem to start: at the end of March, less than 1% of the monthly users of the platform had registered.
In the absence of a new occurrence, the businessman has authorized any initiative that involves increasing Twitter's income: he made staff cuts, extended working hours, announced that he would allow political ads again and even organized an auction to sell all that furniture he considered dispensable.
Twitter's devaluation doesn't affect Musk too much. According to Bloomberg, despite the social network's downfall, the tycoon's wealth rose more than $48 billion this year, largely due to a 000% increase in Tesla's stock price.
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