Elon Musk Puts $20 Billion Value on Twitter in Internal Memo to Staff: Report

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has offered the social-media company’s employees stock grants at a valuation of nearly $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1,64,600 crore), the Information reported on Saturday, citing a person familiar with an email Musk sent to Twitter staff.

The reported valuation is less than half of the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,62,100 crore) that Musk paid to acquire the social media platform, pointing to a drop in Twitter’s value.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ emailed request for a comment.

Musk said in December that Twitter is on track to be “roughly cash flow break-even” in 2023 as top advertisers slashed their spending on the social-media platform after the billionaire’ s takeover.

Earlier this month, the European Union reportedly told Musk to hire more human moderators and fact-checkers to review posts on Twitter, following talks between Musk, Twitter executives and regulators in Brussels.

The demand complicates Musk’s efforts to reorganise the loss-making business he acquired for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,62,100 crore) in October. He has slashed more than half of Twitter’s 7,500 staff, including the entire trust and safety teams in some offices, while seeking cheaper methods to monitor tweets, the report said.

The massive layoffs have raised concerns if Twitter can comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act that requires Internet platforms to put specific measures in place against illegal content, before the law comes into full effect in early 2024.

Twitter has been leaning heavily on automation to moderate content, doing away with certain manual reviews. It does not employ fact checkers, unlike larger rival Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, the report said.

© Thomson Reuters 2023