A new business model for Twitter? The owner of the social network, Elon Musk, announced Saturday in a series of messages on Twitter that the platform will soon offer a “more expensive subscription that will allow you to have no more advertising.”
It would be a sea change from Twitter’s business model, which has so far relied on targeted advertising to generate revenue, before launching a first paid subscription in mid-December.
This new ad-free subscription will be part of a broader strategy, announced by the American billionaire through a tweet, to review the presence of advertising on the social network.
Economic difficulties
The social network has been facing great financial difficulties since its acquisition by Elon Musk at the end of October. Initially, the company laid off around half of its 7,500 employees.
At the end of December, the man who is also in charge of Tesla and SpaceX had estimated that Twitter could reach a turnover of around three billion dollars this year, which would be equivalent to a contraction of 41% compared to 2021.
In fact, the various decisions made by Elon Musk have scared away a significant part of the main advertisers, frightened by the return to the platform of people initially banned for racist or conspiratorial comments.
Other subscription plan
On Wednesday, the company held an auction, offering no less than 631 lots of furniture and decorative objects, including a huge light installation representing the famous blue bird, sold for $40,000.
To compensate for the flight of advertisers, the billionaire, who has explained that he has had to “reduce costs like crazy” to avoid a cessation of payment, is betting on subscription formulas, starting with Twitter Blue, which is offered between the 8th and the 11 dollars a month depending on the subscription method, and therefore this new offer will come without advertising.
For about a month, Elon Musk has also been looking for his successor at the head of the San Francisco company, after a survey showed that 57% of the approximately 17 million participating users are in favor of his departure.
Source: BFM TV
