While Elon Musk was negotiating a $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter, he let financiers know that he would focus on reducing the organization’s profits. As Bloomberg reports, Musk talked about cutting both costs and jobs for the social network.
In phone calls with bankers before the deal was announced, Musk answered questions about how he would make returns on Twitter. While nothing has been clarified (and Musk did not have access to Twitter’s non-public financial data at the time), he specifically referred to the job cuts, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified by Bloomberg.
Musk also discussed plans to monetize the platform and increase cash flow, including possible subscription services. Advertising industry professionals express skepticism that Twitter could charge more for the platform or run more ads. At the recent TED conference, Musk publicly expressed his indifference to Twitter monetization.
“Elon Musk at TED 2017” by Jurvetson is marked CC BY 2.0.
Mason Pelt is a guest writer for ArticleSubmission.news. He was a contributor to SiliconANGLE and has written for TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Business Insider, Social Media Today and more.
His background in advertising gives him a unique perspective on the tech world and the digital surveillance state it seems to be creating.
