Elon Musk pitch deck for Twitter promises to nearly triple ad revenue, create $10 billion subscription business: report

The news organization did not publish the actual deck, but did report on several aspects of it. For instance, Musk reportedly sees Twitter recording $26.4 billion in revenue in 2028, thanks to $12 billion in ad revenue and $10 billion in subscription revenue.

In 2021, Twitter recorded revenue of $5.08 billion in revenue, with $4.51 billion coming from advertising and the rest from data licensing and other efforts. Twitter launched its Twitter Blue subscription service last summer, but in its first-quarter earnings report, executives said non-advertising revenue declined 5% year-over-year, even after removing the MoPub business they sold.

Musk told investors he expects free cash flow of $3.2 billion in 2025 and $9.4 billion in 2028, according to the report. Twitter had negative free cash flow of nearly $200 million last year, according to FactSet, but the metric was positive in 2019 ($892.9 million, a record for the company) and 2020 ($272 million).

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had told potential investors that he could see staging an initial public offering for Twitter in just three years, based on anonymous sources.

The Twitter board has accepted Musk’s bid of $54.20 a share for the company, but shareholders must still vote on the deal, which will also have to satisfy other closing hurdles. It is expected to close by the end of the year.