Musk aims to quintuple Twitter revenue to $26.4bn by 2028: NYT

The Twitter logo is seen at its headquarters in downtown San Francisco, California. Musk has promised to revitalise the company and expand the number of users by cracking down on spam bots and reducing the amount of moderation to facilitate more “free speech”.

Elon Musk is aiming to increase Twitter’s annual revenue to $26.4bn by 2028, up from $5bn last year, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing a pitch deck presented by the world’s richest man to investors. Advertising will fall to 45% of total revenue under Musk, down from about 90% in 2020, generating $12bn in revenue in 2028, while subscriptions are expected to pull in another $10bn, according to the report. The head of electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc also aims to increase Twitter’s cash flow to $3.2bn in 2025 and $9.4bn in 2028, the newspaper reported, citing the presentation. Musk clinched a deal last month to buy Twitter for $44bn in cash, in a move that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the Tesla Inc chief. The billionaire has promised to revitalise the company and expand the number of users by cracking down on spam bots and reducing the amount of moderation to facilitate more “free speech”. After the closure of the deal, Musk is expected to become Twitter’s temporary CEO, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Among his other goals, Musk expects the social media company to bring in $15mn from a payments business in 2023 that will grow to about $1.3bn by 2028, the NYT cited the document as saying. Musk anticipates he can increase Twitter’s average revenue per user to $30.22 in 2028 from $24.83 last year, it added. He also expects Twitter to have 11,072 employees by 2025, up from around 7,500. Revenue from Twitter Blue, the company’s premium subscription service launched last year, is expected to have 69mn users by 2025, the NYT reported . Musk, in a now deleted tweet last month, suggested a raft of changes to the social media giant’s Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price. On Thursday, Musk listed a group of high-profile investors who are ready to provide funding of $7.14bn for his Twitter bid, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Sequoia Capital. Musk has increased the financing commitment to $27.25bn, which includes commitments from 19 investors, and reduced a margin loan from Morgan Stanley tied to his Tesla stock to $6.25bn. He has already secured commitments for $13bn in loans against Twitter shares. Musk could not be reached for comment. Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.