AFP
Elon Musk puts Twitter’s value at just $20 billion
Elon Musk values Twitter at $20 billion, less than half of the $44 billion he paid for it five months ago, according to an internal email.
Musk said the platform was on the verge of bankruptcy and faced grave financial difficulties, with a drop of $1.5 billion a year in revenue and a debt-servicing burden of the same amount.
Musk plans to allow Twitter employees to cash in shares every six months and sees a “clear but difficult path” to a valuation of $250 billion.

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Elon Musk has put the current value of Twitter at $20 billion, less than half the $44 billion he paid for the social media platform just five months ago, according to an internal email seen by American news media.
The email to employees dealt with a new stock compensation program in the San Francisco-based company and the attribution to employees of stock in X Holdings, Twitter’s umbrella company since Musk purchased it in late October.
The compensation plan values the platform at $20 billion, slightly more than that of Snap ($18.2 billion), the parent company of Snapchat, or of social network and creative website Pinterest ($18.7 billion), both of which, unlike Twitter, are publicly traded.
An emailed query from AFP sent to Twitter’s communications department generated an automatic response in the form of a poop emoji.
In the internal email, Musk describes the brutal contraction in Twitter’s value. He says the platform faced such grave financial difficulties that at one point it was on the verge of bankruptcy.
“Twitter was trending to lose ~$3B/year,” Musk said in a message posted Saturday on the platform.
He cited a revenue drop of $1.5 billion a year and a debt-servicing burden of the same amount — leaving it with “only 4 months of money.”
Musk, Twitter’s majority shareholder, added simply: “Extremely dire situation.”
But he then said that with advertisers — many of whom fled the platform after the mercurial billionaire bought it — now beginning to return, “It looks like we will break even” in the second quarter of the year.
Since taking control, Musk has sharply trimmed the group’s payroll, from 7,500 to fewer than 2,000 employees.
He said in the email that he sees a “clear but difficult path” to a valuation of $250 billion, without saying how long that might take.
Musk, who is also the chief executive of Tesla Inc. and aerospace group SpaceX, said that Twitter would allow employees of the social network to cash in shares every six months.
— AFP

- Labour6 days ago
Government forms work group to tackle illegal delivery work by foreigners, protect local platform workers
- Politics6 days ago
Progress Singapore Party unveils new leadership team as founding leaders step aside in major renewal effort
- Business6 days ago
MAS fines 9 financial institutions S$27.45 million over S$3 billion money‑laundering case
- Singapore6 days ago
69-year-old woman found dead in Changi flat following days of pungent smell
- Singapore6 days ago
SMRT: Power system fault may have caused three-hour Bukit Panjang LRT disruption on 3 July
- Community7 days ago
Singaporean-funded polyclinic in Gaza treating up to 100 patients daily amid healthcare crisis
- Community3 days ago
Singapore sees 7% drop in marriages in 2024; more elderly living alone as family dynamics shift
- Court Cases7 days ago
Istana Security Unit officer: Feb 2024 pro-Palestinian procession posed no threat, was cooperative