‘Extremely tough’: Elon Musk on past 3 months as Twitter CEO, says had to save from bankruptcy
2 min read . Updated: 06 Feb 2023, 08:04 AM IST
PremiumElon Musk also added that the microblogging site continues to have challenges.
Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk recalled his past three months as Twitter CEO. The billionaire said that it has been "extremely tough" as he "had to save Twitter from bankruptcy" while also fulfilling his duties in Tesla and SpaceX.
Musk also added that the microblogging site continues to have challenges.
Taking to his official Twitter handle, “Last 3 months were extremely tough, as had to save Twitter from bankruptcy, while fulfilling essential Tesla & SpaceX duties. Wouldn't wish that pain on anyone. Twitter still has challenges, but is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it. Public support is much appreciated!"
Also Read: Instagram may soon bring Twitter Blue-like paid subscription: Details
Musk replied this to a news article published by WSJ titled ‘When Does Elon Musk Sleep? Billionaire Speaks of Limits to Fixing Twitter and His Back Pain’.
Musk lamented the company's "massive drop in revenue" just one week after closing the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter in October, which he attributed to "activist groups pressuring advertisers," Fox Business reported. Since then, he has made a number of changes on Twitter, as per the news report.
Elon Musk has reduced about half of Twitter's staff, introduced a revamped microblogging site Blue subscription service and even auctioned off memorabilia from the company's San Francisco headquarters, Fox Business reported. He defended the Twitter layoffs in November, stressing that the company was losing USD 4 million a day.
After the layoffs, Ex-Twitter employees from across the world have levelled charges of contract breach and discrimination, adding to owner Elon Musk's mounting legal troubles. The company had laid off roughly 3,700 employees in early November as part of a cost-cutting measure by Musk, with hundreds more resigning subsequently.
According to reports quoting lawyer Lisa Bloom, the number of staffers taking legal action against the company is rising on a daily basis. The lawyer said that she was already representing around 100 ex-staffers fired by Musk.
Meanwhile, in a new change on Twitter, the company announced that it will start charging a fee to access its API, which developers use to create third-party services, as per the news report. As the Twitter website explains, its API is a set of programmatic endpoints that can be used to understand or build the conversation on the social media platform. It allows software developers to find, retrieve, engage with or create several different resources including tweets, users, spaces and direct messages.
Earlier on January 13, Musk revealed some of the changes that were set to be introduced in the microblogging platform from next week onwards. He wrote, "Bookmark button moving to tweet details page, fixing image length crop & other minor bug fixes next week."
Recently, a US jury had cleared Musk of claims by Tesla Inc investors that he defrauded them when he tweeted in 2018 that he was considering taking the company private and had "funding secured" to make the deal happen.
Post verdict, Elon Musk thanked the jury and wrote on Twitter,"Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed! I am deeply appreciative of the jury’s unanimous finding of innocence in the Tesla 420 take-private case". Musk was sued by shareholders who said the tycoon acted recklessly in an effort to squeeze investors who had bet against the company. The verdict rejected allegations that the electric car maker's CEO violated securities laws and should pay billions of dollars in damages.
(With inputs from ANI)
