According to a recent Financial Times investigation, the CEOs of many top-tier advertisers were approached directly by the social media platform’s new leader to voice his displeasure with their departure as prominent advertisers continue to abandon the sinking barge that is Twitter. According to sources cited by the Financial Times, “almost all” of the major companies with a stake in media expenditure and advertising on the app have ceased their purchases; this group has lately grown to include General Motors, General Mills, and Volkswagen. The insiders said that Elon Musk’s erratic content filtering tactics and the enormous migration of Twitter professionals, including those in charge of ad sales, were to blame for the discomfort.
According to the Financial Times, Musk’s purported move to complain to brand executives over the phone about the cutbacks in expenditure disastrously backfired; as word of his altercation spread, additional advertisers slashed their Twitter investment even further. The withdrawals follow Musk’s massive layoffs, which severely reduced the point of contact team for the advertisers. As a result, the firms have had very little, if any, communication from Twitter recently. According to The Times’ sources, Twitter’s ad management tools have gotten so glitchy that handling advertisements is now difficult, which may also be related to the few employees.
According to a source, Musk alienated marketers who “wanted him to succeed.”
One of the senior executives of a big advertising firm reportedly stated to the Financial Times that Musk “seems to put off even those marketers who wanted him to succeed.” There is a pressing need for Musk to maintain the network’s revenues, according to the Times: Twitter advertising formerly brought in $5 billion annually, but Musk’s acquisition of the platform required the firm to incur $13 billion in debt. According to the FT, the interest payments on that debt alone will total $1 billion year.
The publication also notes that after buying Twitter, Musk and his insider executives from Tesla and SpaceX assured high-end advertisers that it would not turn into “a free-for-all hellscape.” Leaders in the advertising sector initially had favourable opinions of Musk, with one executive allegedly commenting that Musk seemed to know more about Twitter than former CEO Jack Dorsey ever did (via the Financial Times). But shortly after, many were fired and more swiftly cut and bolted, leaving Twitter with a skeletal staff and causing havoc across several divisions, including ad sales.
