Elon Musk Warns of Twitter Bankruptcy as Executives Quit

A threat of bankruptcy, an exodus of key executives, and a warning from the US regulator for consumer protection marked a chaotic day at Twitter under Elon Musk's new leadership.

In an email calling for his first "all-hands" meeting, the billionaire warned employees that Twitter would not survive for long if they didn't find new ways to make money, DW said Friday.

"Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message. Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn," Musk said.

According to a Bloomberg report, Musk told his employees that he could not rule out bankruptcy only two weeks after he bought the social media company for $44 billion (€43.2 billion).

Some of Twitter's advertisers — its main source of revenue — have stayed away from the company since Musk took over, driving down revenue.

The social media platform is losing $4 million every day, Musk told employees.  The social media giant is currently $13 billion in debt, which demands a $1.2 billion interest payment in the next 12 months. That is higher than Twitter's most recent cash flow of $1.1 billion, according to financial documents, as of June 30.  

After Musk reportedly laid off 50% of Twitter's 7,000 employees this week, higher-up executives in vital roles have left of their own volition.

Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of trust and safety resigned via Slack, just a day after defending Musk's content moderation policies to advertisers. The string of exits includes Twitter's Chief Privacy Officer Damien Keiran and Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner. The latter tweeted her decision on Thursday.