Twitter woes continue with ad sales down by nearly 60%: report

Advertisers continue distancing themselves from Twitter, according to a new report.

Billionaire Elon Musk told employees in March the social media platform he purchased for $44 billion in October lost more than half its value under his leadership. According to the New York Times, U.S. advertisers showed little interest in doing business with Musk’s company during a five-week window that began April 1.

Ad sales were reportedly down 59% from last year during that period. Musk told the BBC in April “almost all advertisers” that fled the company were either back or intended to return.

Records obtained by the Times show Twitter, under Musk, regularly falls short of weekly sales estimates by as much as 30%. Internal documents and multiple Twitter insiders indicate ad sales are expected to continue their decline indefinitely.

Recently hired Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal advertising executive, hopes to stem the bleeding when she takes over operations in coming days. The Times reports her tenure begins this week.

Twitter sales staff is said to be concerned that the perceived proliferation of hate speech and pornography on the platform may be spooking advertisers. Ad buyers may not want to see their products pushed alongside promotions for online gambling and marijuana products either, according to the Times.

Musk has also struggled to retain staff at Twitter. His rein began with massive layoffs, followed by the departure of key staffers like head of trust and safety Ella Irwin, who confirmed her resignation on Twitter Friday. The platform also lost engineering chief Foad Dabiri in late May following an embarrassing glitch-plagued event launching the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Musk joked about Twitter’s financial woes in February

“Say what you want about me, but I acquired the world’s largest non-profit for $44B lol,” he tweeted.