Elon Musk’s plans for Twitter are majestic. Almost exaggerated, one would say once analyzed. Yes, because after the acquisition followed rumors and anticipations about the real intentions of the richest man in the world – as well as patron of Tesla and SpaceX – to make the social network attractive both for users (edit button?) and for investors. Other than “I’m not interested in making money,” Musk wants to flip Twitter like a sock to make it a money machine. Understandable, given how much he had to pay to buy it, as confirmed by the New York Times that he came into possession of the documentation presented to stakeholders by the new owner in recent days with all the objectives to be achieved between now and 2028.
FIVEFOLD REVENUE
Despite the good financial results recently published, Twitter can and should do better. Much better. Elon Musk’s goal is to quintuple revenues, reaching 26.4 billion by 2028. They were 1.2 billion in Q1 2022, they were 5 billion in 2021. Definitely an ambitious plan, which risks also passing through a staff review.
INDEPENDENCE FROM ADVERTISING (OR ALMOST)
There’s one thing Musk doesn’t like about Twitter (if it were just one!): the fact that a service like Twitter Blue (paid) provides advertising is wrong. This is just one example of how the platform must emancipate itself by reducing its dependence on advertising: the goal is to get below 50% of revenue, probably 45% (-90% compared to 2020). This is the situation expected for 2028:
Advertising: $12 billion in revenue
subscriptions: $10 billion
other revenue: miscellaneous activities, including data licensing
IN-APP PAYMENTS
Payment activities within the platform? Possible, with forecasts of $15 million in revenue in 2023, up to $1.3 billion in 2028. In short, taking inspiration from PayPal (co-founded by Musk) could benefit the company.
MORE REVENUE PER USER
The goal in this case is to reach $ 30.22 per user in 2028, compared to $ 24.83 in 2021.
MORE USERS
Currently there are 229 million users, 15.9% more than in 2021. By 2028, according to Musk, it will have to be 931 million, with the intermediate goal of 600 million in 2025. An important contribution will come from Twitter Blue: in this regard, subscribers will have to grow to 69 million by 2025 and to 159 million in 2028.
X: here is Musk’s mysterious project for Twitter, which according to the plans of the new owner in 2028 will have 104 million subscribers, 9 million already in 2023. Is it the completely ad-free version of the platform?
RECRUITMENT
On the one hand the fear of cuts, on the other the idea of hiring 3,600 employees. Today there are 7,500, by 2022 they will be (or must be) 9,225, in 2023 8,332 (down) and in 2025 11,072.
AVAILABLE CASH FLOW
Finally, a purely financial figure: 13 billion of debt will be added that will be repaid in a short time because the available cash flow will increase to 9.4 billion dollars in 2028.
