Elon Musk says Twitter cash flow remains negative with ‘heavy debt’

tesla SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Twitter’s chief technology officer and executive chairman, said early Saturday that the social media company’s cash flow was struggling due to a nearly 50% drop in ad revenue and “heavy debt.” Still negative.

“Need to be cash flow positive before we have anything else,” Musk tweeted.

In October, Musk bought Twitter in a deal worth about $44 billion, including about $13 billion in debt. He sold billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock in part to fund the deal.

By January, hundreds of advertisers had reduced or halted their ad spending on Twitter in response to Musk’s slashing at the company and implementing changes to the platform, notably reinstating previously banned accounts and changing how it moderates content .

In April, Musk told a BBC reporter that “virtually all” advertisers had resumed buying ads on Twitter. He also claimed at the time that the company was “roughly breaking even” and expected to turn cash flow positive in the next quarter.

His statement today about Twitter’s cash flow comes more than a month after Linda Yaccarino’s. Linda Yaccarino was previously responsible for Twitter’s global advertising business. Comcast NBCUniversal as CEO of Twitter. NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

Yacarino’s appointment has fueled hopes among media industry insiders that Twitter will address pressing challenges facing its ad business.

In recent days, Twitter has begun allocating a portion of its ad revenue to curated content creators on its platform. Musk’s remarks came in response to followers wondering why the revenue-sharing program was so limited in scope.

Some widely followed accounts on Twitter said they were frustrated that they had not yet been eligible to earn income from the program.As previously reported by The Verge, the revenue-sharing plan is available only Payments to Twitter Blue users who verify their subscriptions are “driven by ads placed in replies to tweets.”

influencer andrew tate – who supports misogynistic point of view He is facing trial online on charges of rape, human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women by forming a criminal gang in Romania — and he posted that Twitter paid him more than $20,000. Tate has sued the plaintiffs who made the allegations.

Several right-wing influencers, as well as fans and promoters of Tesla stock and products, also posted about receiving Twitter payments, including Omar Qazi (who uses the “@WholeMarsBlog” account on Twitter) and Sawyer Merritt, who each posted Posts about netting over $5,000.

Mainstream influencers sharing details about their Twitter earnings include Brian and Ed Krassenstein, Mr. Beast and the account @interneth0f (on behalf of the Internet Hall of Fame). The Internet Hall of Fame posts screenshots of other people’s popular posts on social media and redistributes them.

It’s unclear how much Twitter paid creators in total in the first round of payments. Twitter sent an automated response with a rough symbol to CNBC’s request for comment on Saturday. X Corp., Twitter’s parent company, is facing numerous lawsuits from former employees and suppliers for unpaid bills and severance pay.