Musk admits Twitter cash flow is still negative, lost 50% of ad revenue

After drastic cost-cutting measures and various efforts to monetize the platform, Twitter is still in the red.

On July 15, Elon Musk tweeted, "We’re still negative cash flow, due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load. Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else."

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It's been a wild ride since Musk took the helm of the social media platform, promising to turn Twitter into a "digital town square," and stem the negative cash flow. So far, that's included laying off 80 percent of Twitter employees, charging third-party apps up to $42,000 for the API, and making verified Twitter accounts subscription-based. Many advertisers have left the platform over Musk's, shall we say, laissez-faire attitude towards content moderation. Recently, Musk brought in former NBCUniversal exec Linda Yaccarino as CEO who is tasked with bringing back ad revenue.

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But based on Musk's tweet, that hasn't happened yet. In March, Musk shared his goal of being cash-flow positive by now, meaning Twitter is way behind schedule. As part of its long-term plan to entice content creators and lure influencers back to the site, Twitter has started sharing ad revenue with select Twitter Blue subscribers. User Brian Krassenstein was recently paid almost $25,000.

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Based on Twitter's balance, maybe now isn't the best time to be sharing ad revenue.