Topline
Elon Musk’s tumultuous five-week tenure as Twitter CEO continued to take a strange path Thursday, with the world’s wealthiest man pleading for users to post more on the social media site as the firm reportedly dangled a lucrative offer to advertisers who drive a majority of the company’s revenue but have soured on Musk’s vision for Twitter.
Advertising accounted for more than 90 percent of Twitter’s revenue before Musk took over.
Key Facts
Companies who spend more than $500,000 on Twitter ads will receive a 100% match on their spending in equivalent marketing value up to $1 million, according to an email sent to advertisers viewed by the Wall Street Journal.
It’s “the most aggressive ad spend incentive” ever, according to an internal message from a Twitter executive viewed by Platformer editor Zoe Schiffer, explaining it’s intended to “make it worth it to get any paused advertisers to reactivate.”
Musk, who has frequently bragged about an increase in daily active users at Twitter, also posted Thursday afternoon, “If I may beg your indulgence, please add your voice to the public dialogue,” griping that he has met “so many people who read twitter every day, but almost never tweet.”
Key Background
Numerous prominent companies have announced they’ll no longer advertise on Twitter, including car companies like Ford and Audi and other giants like General Mills and Pfizer, while dozens of others have reportedly quietly stopped marketing on the site. Though Musk has brainstormed other revenue streams for Twitter, including a controversial revamp to the Twitter Blue monthly subscription service that briefly included paid verification checkmarks, but ads remains the core component of Twitter’s business: Ad revenue represented $1.08 billion of Twitter’s $1.18 billion total revenue in the second quarter of 2022, the last period where the company’s financial data is publicly available.
Tangent
Musk publicly sparred with Apple, the world’s largest company by market capitalization, this week, claiming the Silicon Valley titan “mostly stopped advertising” on the platform and “hate[s]
free speech,” an apparent reference to Twitter’s recent reinstatement of various previously banned accounts, including former President Donald Trump’s. Musk, who also accused Apple of considering banning Twitter from the App Store, quickly backtracked, saying there was no truth to his App Store allegation after a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple’s headquarters.
Forbes Valuation
Musk is the wealthiest person in the world with a $198.4 billion fortune, according to our estimates, though his net worth is down 38% since it peaked at $320 billion last November. Much of his wealth is from his stake in electric vehicle maker Tesla, which Musk leads as CEO, and his decline in wealth can be traced to Tesla’s free-falling stock price as many investors fret about Twitter occupying too much of Musk’s time and resources.
Further Reading
Musk Says Apple Cutting Twitter Ads—Here Are The Other Companies Rethinking Their Ties (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/12/01/twitter-reportedly-unveils-lucrative-plan-to-win-back-fleeing-advertisers-as-musk-begs-people-to-tweet-more/