Twitter Inc (NYSE.TWTR) has seen its daily revenues plummet following the withdrawal of hundreds of advertisers from the platform. This was in response to Elon Musk’s takeover last fall.
According to Siddharth Rao, senior engineer, Pfizer Inc (NYSE :PFE), Ford Motor Company NYSE:F and Meta Platforms Inc NASDAQ:FB are just a few of the 500 companies that have stopped advertising on the social media platform after Musk’s US$44bn acquisition in October.
Rao explained to staff that revenue fell 40% by January 17 compared with the same day last Year in a Tuesday meeting.
Elon Musk said companies are missing an “incredible chance” that Twitter offers, tweeting Tuesday about Twitter’s advertising potential.
Falling revenue is just one of the growing problems for the company. According to Musk, the company was already experiencing losses of US$4mln per day last year. This led to half its workforce being fired.
Since Musk’s takeover, advertisers have been under pressure to leave the site. He also hinted at possible changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.
Stop Toxic Twitter, a civil rights coalition, has repeatedly criticized advertisers and Twitter. They warned: “Until Musk can invest and prioritize teams that can robustly enforce Twitter’s existing community standards,” the platform is neither safe for users or advertisers.
Yoel Roth, the former head of Twitter’s trust and safety department, stated that much had “stayed unchanged” in November despite this. The team was later disbanded.
Roth stated that as long as 90% of revenue from the company comes via ads, Twitter must operate in a way which doesn’t threaten the revenue streams that pay the bills.
After a vote by users, Musk confirmed that he would be leaving Twitter as chief executive. But, it remains to be seen when and who will succeed him.
Musk recently decided to allow political advertising to be removed from the platform, which could make it easier for specific causes to air.
He also blocked the accounts of many journalists covering Twitter and Musk’s other companies Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), and SpaceX. This was allegedly because of data sharing fears.
Musk reversed his original plan to ban all other social medias that were being promoted on the site.