Twitter working on payments feature, says FT

New boss Elon Musk is pushing Twitter to create new streams of revenue as it faces a drop in advertising income, following his $44-billion takeover of the company in October.

Before Musk’s acquisition, Twitter in early 2021 was considering allowing its users to receive tips, or digital payments, from their followers.

Following Twitter Inc’s acquisition by billionaire and investor CEO Elon Musk, its workforce around the world started getting messages that they had been locked out of their work account— indicating the execution of the much anticipated massive lay offs that had made headlines in the recent weeks. Ever since Musk’s takeover, the social media platform has witnessed sweeping changes- one of them being the removal of the company’s top liaison alongside other employees. The new chief had previously ordered the concerned officials to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings.

On Twitter, top advisors cut off their spending after Elon Musk’s takeover, as per the estimates compiled for by research firm Pathmatics, in the latest shock to the company’s dominant revenue source.

Fourteen of the top 30 advertisers on Twitter stopped all advertising on the platform after Musk took charge on October 27, according to the Pathmatics estimates. Four advertisers reduced spending between 92% and 98.7% from the week before Musk’s acquisition through the end of the year.

But the company said those estimates do not account for deals advertisers may receive from Twitter, or promoted trends and accounts. In an email, Pathmatics said, “It is possible the spending data could be higher for some brands” if Twitter is offering incentives.