Twitter owner Elon Musk announced in a series of messages on his social network on Saturday that the latter will soon offer “a more expensive subscription that will allow you to stop having ads.”
• Also read: Elon Musk takes stand to defend himself against cheating allegations
• Also read: Crisis on Twitter: employees talk about their ordeal since Elon Musk’s arrival
It would be a radical shift in Twitter’s business model, which has so far relied on targeted advertising for revenue, before launching its first paid subscription in mid-December.
This new ad-free subscription will be part of a broader strategy announced by the American billionaire via tweet to overhaul the presence of advertising on the social network.
“Ads are too common and too big on Twitter. We will be responding to both of these parameters over the coming weeks,” Mr Musk wrote.
There will also be a higher priced subscription that will not allow ads
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2023
Since the takeover by Mr. Musk at the end of October, the social network has been facing major economic difficulties. The company initially laid off around half of its 7,500 employees.
In late December, the man who also runs Tesla and SpaceX had estimated that Twitter could generate around $3 billion in revenue this year, down 41 percent from 2021.
Mr Musk’s various decisions have indeed deterred a significant segment of key advertisers, who feared the return to the platform of individuals initially banned for making racist or conspiracy comments.
On Wednesday, the company held an auction offering no fewer than 631 lots of furniture and decorative items, including a giant light installation depicting the famous blue bird that sold for $40,000.
To compensate for the advertisers’ flight, the multi-billionaire, who said he had to “cut costs like crazy” to avoid a payment freeze, is betting on subscription formulas, starting with Twitter Blue, which cost between $8 and $11 a month each by subscription mode, and hence this new offer comes with no ads.
Elon Musk has also been looking for his successor at the helm of the San Francisco-based company for around a month, after a survey showed that 57% of the approximately 17 million participating users are in favor of his departure.