X could go bankrupt: Elon Musk told (former) advertisers to f**k off

The loans Elon Musk took out to buy Twitter (now X) amounted to about $13 billion, and the tech giant now has to pay about $1.2 billion in interest each year.

As major advertisers leave the platform, and X cannot pay interest on its loans or pay its employees, bankruptcy no longer seems so far-fetched, BBC reported.

– This would be an extreme scenario that Musk would certainly want to avoid – the report states.

However, for a company he bought for $44 billion, bankruptcy may sound unimaginable, but that does not mean it is impossible. Namely, Disney and Apple no longer advertise on X, and Musk, speaking last Wednesday night at the DealBook Summit of the New York Times, said that advertisers who are concerned about his behavior should stop spending money on ads that the platform has always depended on.

– If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? F**k you. Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you are in the audience. That’s how I feel, don’t advertise – Musk said.

Joining the large companies that have canceled X as an advertising channel is retail giant Walmart.

– We do not advertise on X because we have found other platforms to better reach our customers – said a Walmart spokesperson in a report.

Last year, about 90% of X’s revenue came from advertising. Today, that percentage is drastically lower. Musk warned that the loss of major advertisers would mean the end of the platform.

– What this advertising boycott will do is kill the company. And the whole world will know that these advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in detail – Musk said at the recently held DealBook Summit.

In 2022, Twitter’s advertising revenue was about $4 billion. Insider Intelligence estimates that it will fall to $1.9 billion this year. After Musk’s outburst against major advertisers, X reportedly intends to leverage small and medium-sized businesses to make up for the advertising loss from large companies.

A new report from The Financial Times claims that X will now turn to small and medium-sized businesses to increase revenue after Musk angered major brands by supporting antisemitic content.

– Small and medium enterprises are a very significant engine that we have definitely underestimated for a long time. This has always been part of the plan, and now we will go even further with it – said X representatives.