Things at Twitter may not be as bad as it seems. The microblogging is making progress towards becoming profitable, according to its CEO Elon Musk. In a live interview with the BBC recorded on Twitter Spaces, Musk said that the platform was now “roughly breakeven”. During the interview, Musk said that Twitter takeover was “extremely painful” for him but all is well that ends well.
“It’s been really quite a stressful situation, you know, for the last several months,” Musk said (via CNBC). “It’s been quite painful, but I think… at the end of the day it should have been done.”
Elon Musk has been working to make more money from Twitter, which he has invested billions of dollars in. To achieve this, Twitter has rolled out Twitter Blue- an opt-in subscription that offers users various services such as the ability to get verified on the platform, post high quality videos or edit tweets. Twitter Blue costs $8 a month and is said to be part of Twitter’s efforts for revenue-generation.
Musk also announced that Twitter will begin removing the legacy blue checks from accounts that don’t have a subscription to Twitter Blue service next week. The billionaire on Tuesday announced “4/20” as the final date for removal of these legacy verification badges.
Going further in the interview, Musk also revealed that “almost all” advertisers have resumed buying ads on Twitter, following a brief pause after Musk’s acquisition of the app. The company reportedly lost half of its top advertisers after Musk took over the company. According to a research study by Media Matters for America, Twitter last year lost 50 of its top 100 advertisers. The report suggests that these advertisers have represented almost $2 billion in expenditure on the platform since 2020, and more than $750 million in advertising in 2022 alone.
This news comes after Twitter made sharp layoffs in an effort to reduce costs and improve its financial situation. The company has been working to make its platform more appealing to advertisers and users alike, launching new features such as Twitter Blue and Twitter Spaces.
Musk in the same interview also talked about India’s IT rules and that the company would rather comply with the law than risking its employees going to jail.
