X, Ad Revenue Halved... Musk Faces 'Risk'

Projected Advertising Revenue of 3 Trillion Won This Year
Earned 1 Billion USD Per Quarter Last Year
Advertiser Exodus Amid Anti-Yudaejuui Controversy

Social networking service X (formerly Twitter), which experienced a large-scale advertiser exodus following controversy over anti-Semitism, is estimated to have seen a significant decline in advertising revenue this year compared to the previous year, Bloomberg reported on the 12th (local time).

Bloomberg cited anonymous sources saying that X's management aimed for $3 billion in advertising and subscription revenue this year, but the final results are expected to fall far short of that figure.

According to the sources, X is expected to generate $2.5 billion (approximately 3.2975 trillion KRW) in advertising revenue for the year. Revenue earned through the third quarter of this year slightly exceeded $600 million per quarter, and Bloomberg reported that fourth-quarter advertising revenue is expected to be of a similar scale. Last year’s revenue exceeded $1 billion per quarter.

Since Elon Musk took over, X’s revenue has been sharply declining. In 2021, before Musk’s acquisition, annual revenue exceeded $5 billion, with advertising revenue accounting for about 90% of total revenue. At that time, Twitter’s management set a goal to achieve $7.5 billion in revenue by the end of 2023. However, the share of advertising revenue has now dropped to around 70-75% of the total.

Musk planned to reduce dependence on advertising revenue and increase the number of paid subscribers after acquiring Twitter, but this strategy appears to have yielded little success. An anonymous source said that the current number of users subscribing to X’s paid service, "X Premium," is just over 1 million.

The decline in advertising revenue was caused by an increase in advertiser departures amid allegations that X was allowing content that incites hate to remain on the platform. The progressive media watchdog group Media Matters reported last month that advertisements from companies such as IBM and Apple were placed next to Nazi-related content on the X platform. Following the release of the report, major companies including IBM, Apple, Disney, Comcast, and Paramount Global decided to suspend advertising on X. Musk’s posting last month of a message endorsing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories further heightened advertisers’ concerns.

BBC in the UK reported on the advertising suspension, stating, "X, which Musk acquired last year for $44 billion (approximately 57 trillion KRW), could actually face bankruptcy due to risks Musk himself has cultivated."

Subsequently, Musk publicly apologized for posting the problematic message. However, he criticized the companies that stopped advertising after the anti-Semitism controversy, calling it unfair intimidation. He also claimed that Media Matters’ report was completely fabricated.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.