Twitter blames Musk for declining revenue
Twitter has blamed Elon Musk for its revenue decline in the second quarter as the social media firm feels the strain of failed takeover talks.
Revenue dropped one per cent year-over-year to $1.18bn, falling short of the projected $1.32bn.
While the social media titan blamed the challenging macroeconomic environment for the revenue dip, it also cited the “uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk.”
The acquisition talks have cost Twitter $33m in the second quarter alone, and is likely to climb even further as it goes head-to-head with Musk in Delaware courts.
Because of the ongoing legal battle, Twitter said it would not be providing a forward-looking statement for the third quarter.
Commenting on the results, Forrester VP research director Mike Proulx said Twitter was in a kind of “purgatory” at the moment.
“The future of the company and the product is in question. Twitter now has an acquirer who no longer wants it, a CEO and board who wants to get rid of it, and an employee base whose caught in the middle of it all as their morale plummets.
None of this is good for Twitter in the short and medium term. The real victim from all of this drama is Twitter itself”.
He added that whilst Twitter has a smaller user base versus some of its competition, it continues to play an “outsized role in culture as a real-time pulse of what’s on people’s minds”.