On Thursday, Tesla founder and Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk raised concerns over the possibility of the popular micro-blogging platform going bankrupt after several senior executives of the company quit.
Bloomberg reported that the billionaire told Twitter employees on a conference call that he could not rule out bankruptcy two weeks after purchasing the company for $44 billion.
According to the report, Musk told Twitter employees that the cash burn needed to stop and that if the company did not generate more cash revenue, it may face bankruptcy.
The reported warning comes days after Musk lay off half of Twitter’s staff and ordered the rest to stop working from home and return to the office.
Two executives, Yoel Roth and Robin Wheeler, who moderated a Twitter Spaces chat with Elon Musk on Wednesday to assuage advertisers’ concerns, have resigned, according to a source close to the situation.
Lea Kissner, Twitter’s Chief Security Officer, announced her resignation earlier on Thursday.
“I’ve made the hard decision to leave Twitter. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing people and I’m so proud of the privacy, security, and IT teams and the work we’ve done. I’m looking forward to figuring out what’s next, starting with my reviews for @USENIXSecurity,” Kissner tweeted.
I’ve made the hard decision to leave Twitter. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing people and I’m so proud of the privacy, security, and IT teams and the work we’ve done.
— Lea Kissner (@LeaKissner) November 10, 2022
I’m looking forward to figuring out what’s next, starting with my reviews for @USENIXSecurity 😁
According to an internal message shared to Twitter’s Slack messaging system on Thursday by an attorney on its privacy team, Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran and Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty have also resigned.
Following the resignation of these three privacy and compliance officers, the US Federal Trade Commission expressed “deep concern.” These resignations could put Twitter in violation of regulatory orders.
Musk warned the company could lose billions of dollars next year in his first meeting with all employees on Thursday afternoon, according to The Information.
Twitter, on the other hand, has yet to respond to reports of a potential bankruptcy, an FTC warning, or top executives leaving the company.
After Musk took over, Wheeler became the face of Twitter’s advertising. Roth, Twitter’s former head of safety and integrity, claimed that the company had reduced views of harmful content in search results by 95% since Musk’s takeover.
Musk on October 27, claimed the company was losing more than $4 million per day, owing largely to advertisers fleeing after he took over.
Musk has constrained Twitter with $13 billion in debt, with interest payments amounting to $1.2 billion over the next year. The payments exceed Twitter’s latest cash flow, which was $1.1 billion at the end of June.
Musk announced last week plans to lay off half of its workforce, promised to eliminate fake accounts, and will charge $8 per month for the Twitter Blue service, which will include the verified blue badge.
Elon Musk is quite vocal about his political opinions and had urged people to vote for Republicans in the recently held mid-term elections. Elon Musk has openly supported the Republican candidates in a recent tweet.
“To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” Musk tweeted on Monday ahead of the polls.
To independent-minded voters:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022
Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.
In what is seen in response to Musk extending support to Republicans, US President Joe Biden on Democrat leader Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the relationships of the new Twitter CEO Elon Musk with foreign countries are worthy of being ‘looked into’.
