Twitter still not doing well: Elon Musk’s network has lost 50% of its advertising revenue

The social network Twitter still fails to get its head above water, Elon Musk having admitted this weekend that the company still presented a negative cash flow.

Even if it remains powerful and continues to be talked about, thanks to its whimsical owner in particular, Twitter is going through a deep crisis, already marked by a dizzying drop in traffic since the beginning of the year. And even if the platform’s business model has tended to change drastically in recent months, the situation remains very uncomfortable. Elon Musk made the bitter observation this weekend during a conversation on the social network.

Advertising revenue that plunged by 50%

While he bought Twitter for the tidy sum of 44 billion dollars last year (” If I’m so smart, why did I pay so much for Twitter? “, he had launched at VivaTech a few weeks ago), Elon Musk knows that he is light years away (no pun intended), from recovering and growing his bet.

On the contrary, the company Twitter today seems plunged into an impasse. ” We still have a negative cash flow, due to a decline of about 50% in advertising revenue and the heavy debt load “, replied the billionaire to a user who suggested strategic developments in society.

The statement is obviously not insignificant, and Twitter is already forecast to generate only $3 billion in revenue in 2023, even less than in 2022 (4.14 billion), with an estimated revenue dive. 28% between the two years.

A future that promises to be delicate, for (too) many reasons

The outlook is poor, Twitter Blue isn’t making enough money, and advertisers aren’t rushing to the gate. And historically, advertising is the major source of revenue for a social network. Even if the Californian firm seems ready to make efforts on its moderation, it will be difficult, in the short term at least, to seduce brands and companies like when Twitter’s economy was a little more flourishing.

Twitter is sailing by sight, and the fog doesn’t really seem to be dissipating at this point. Without having to shout again iceberg straight ahead “, Elon Musk knows that the future looks delicate. ” We must achieve positive cash flow before we have the luxury of doing anything else “, he also wrote on the platform.

We obviously do not forget, moreover, the fierce competition announced by Meta, which drew a few days ago a new social network, Threads, which could overshadow the little blue bird like never before on the ground of microblogging.