© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: ‘X’ logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
(Reuters) -Elon Musk’s social media platform X’s 2023 ad sales are projected to fall to about $2.5 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
Several companies including Comcast (NASDAQ:) and Walt Disney (NYSE:) paused their advertisements on the platform after Musk last month agreed with a post on X, formerly Twitter, that claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people.
Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, told Reuters the report “presents an incomplete view of our entire business, as the sources Bloomberg relied on for information are not providing accurate and comprehensive details”.
X’s revenue from advertising services for the last four quarters as a public company totaled $4.7 billion, according to LSEG data, covering the second half of 2021 and first half of 2022.
The company generated a little more than $600 million in advertising revenue in each of the first three quarters of 2023, and expects a similar performance in the current period, the report added citing people familiar with the matter.
Since Musk’s takeover in October 2022, monthly U.S. ad revenue declined at least 55% year-over-year each month, according to third-party data provided to Reuters in October.
Ad sales make up between 70% and 75% of X’s total revenue. Executives had targeted $3 billion in revenue from advertising and subscriptions in 2023, but will fall far short of that number, according to the report.
Musk had also said in July Twitter’s cash flow had remained negative because of a nearly 50% drop in advertising revenue and a heavy debt load.
