Elon Musk claims that Twitter is now worth just $20B
Elon Musk claims that Twitter is now worth $20B – less than half of what the world’s richest man paid for it six months ago in $44B takeover
- Musk told Twitter employees on Friday the company is now worth just $20billion
- He defended his decision to lay off thousands of employees in a company-wide email on Friday
- Musk bought the company in October for $44billion, and vowed to implement cost-saving measures
Twitter is now worth just $20billion — less than half of what Elon Musk paid for it six months ago, the world’s richest man told his employees.
In a company-wide email on Friday, Musk said the social media giant has lost so much money in recent months that it is now worth jut $20billion, a whopping $24billion less than what he purchased it for in October.
He then went on to defend his decision to lay off thousands of employees in the months since he took the helm of the company, and sell off a variety of merchandise in recent auctions — claiming that Twitter was once just four months from being bankrupt.
But this is not the first time Musk, 51, complained about Twitter’s value.
He famously tried to fight his $44billion takeover of the company, claiming in court that internal documents proved the social media network was not worth that much.
In an email to employees on Friday, Elon Musk said the company is now worth just $20billion. He is pictured here in January
The world’s richest man had bought the social media giant in October for $44million
In his company-wide email on Friday, obtained by the New York Times, Musk defended his decisions to lay off massive swaths of employees, saying the ‘radical changes’ to the company were necessary to save money.
He claimed that Twitter should be looked at as an ‘inverse start-up’ as he tries to rebrand the company, saying: ‘Twitter is being reshaped rapidly.’
And if his efforts are successful, Musk suggested that Twitter can one day be worth $250billion.
His remarks came as he explained the new stock compensation package he is offering to the less than 2,000 employees still left at the company.
Under his plan, Twitter employees will receive stock grants for the company he established to buy the social media platform — the X Corporation — which will operate under the $20billion estimate.
Workers will then be able to sell and cash in on their privately-held stocks every six months.
Doing so, he said, would allow employees to have ‘liquid stock, but without the stock price chaos and lawsuit burdens of a public company.’
Musk has previously implemented a similar program at his Space X firm.
Musk (pictured) vowed to cut costs at Twitter immediately when he took it over back in October
The Tesla CEO took over the social media giant in a $44billion deal in October, immediately vowing to cut costs.
He immediately told half of the social media giant’s workforce that they would be let go in an email to their personal accounts, but many did not learn that their positions were terminated until they tried to sign in to company systems, like Slack or email, and found they no longer had an account.
At the time, Musk defended the decision to fire 3,700 people, saying: ‘There is no choice when the company is losing over $4mn/day.’
Those who remained on board were then told they needed to sign a pledge to be able to stay on in their roles. Staff members received an email that read: ‘If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below.’
But in February, Musk once again reduced the staff to less than 2,000 employees.
Musk saved some money at the company by auctioning off items like a high-end espresso machine, worth around $18,000, and two stationary bikes
The billionaire also tried to save money by bidding off several items from the office’s kitchen and workstation online.
Among the items listed for sale from the San Francisco office were valuable luxury items, such as a $20,000 espresso machine, a $10,000 vegetable dryer and a $17,000 braising pan. An ‘@’ shaped planter is also up for grabs, along with chairs, tables and kegs.
Other items up for grabs on the list include several ice machines, fridges, pizza ovens, a coffee maker, projectors, Mac desktops, stationary bikes, several white boards and several unpackaged desks.
TIMELINE OF ELON MUSK’S CHAOTIC ATTEMPT TO TAKEOVER TWITTER
April 2: Musk announces that he owns 9.2 percent of the company, making him its largest single shareholder
April 14: Musk offers to take Twitter private at $54.20 a share, valuing the company at $44billion
April 25: Twitter accepts Musk’s offer
April 29: Musk sells $8billion in Tesla shares to finance deal
May 13: Musk says Twitter deal is on hold pending a review of bot accounts
May 26: Musk is sued by Twitter for stock manipulation during takeover
July 8: Musk says he’s backing out of the deal. Twitter sues, trying to force him into seeing it through.
October 4: Musk proposes again to go ahead with the deal at the original price
October 17: Proposed trial date in Delaware
October 26: Musk visits Twitter HQ with a sink, updates his bio on the site to ‘Chief Twit’ and sets his location to Twitter HQ
October 27: Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter is finally completed
October 28: Musk fires top Twitter employees, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and top counsel Vijaya Gadde, the woman responsible for banning President Trump after the January 6 riots.
October 30: Twitter employees are told by Musk to make verified accounts a feature that’s exclusive to Twitter Blue, the platform’s paid subscription service
October 31: Musk confirms he’s the new CEO of Twitter and dissolves the board of directors
Early November: Half the company is fired
Late November: Musk assures the remaining staff that no more major layoffs are in the works
February 25: Another 200 staffers are unceremoniously fired
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