Yahoo Finance Elon Musk tells Twitter employees that ‘bankruptcy isn’t out of the question’
Elon Musk has told Twitter employees that “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question” as the social media website struggles with the economic downturn and an exodus of advertisers.
Mr Musk made the suggestion on an all-staff call held on Thursday evening, telling his employees that the company may have a “net negative cash flow of several billion dollars” next year, in remarks reported by The Information.
The gloomy predictions by Twitter’s owner suggest that recent changes driven by the SpaceX founder, including 3,700 compulsory redundancies, have damaged its future prospects.
Twitter is heavily dependent on advertising income for its commercial success.
Recent changes made by Mr Musk to the website’s user verification policies resulted in chaos on Wednesday and Thursday, contributing to an atmosphere that has already seen prominent advertisers such as Volkswagen and General Mills, the maker of Cheerios breakfast cereal, suspend their advertising.
Among reported departures on Thursday night were Twitter’s moderation chief Yoel Roth and head of sales Robin Wheeler.
Both appeared at a public meeting with Mr Musk on Wednesday to defend and support the chief executive’s new vision for the website.
Other sweeping changes imposed this week included the end of Twitter’s remote working policy.
A vocal opponent of working from home, Mr Musk told the social media site’s staff that they must now spend a minimum of 40 hours a week in the office or be fired.
