Market Crash: The Value Plummet of X

In a move that surprised no one—except maybe those who still believe in fairy tales—Elon Musk’s social media endeavor, X (formerly Twitter), is now valued at a staggering less than half of its purchase price. What would he say—“Oops, my bad” or maybe “Hold my Tesla”? As per an Oct. 30 Bloomberg report, internal memos reveal that the platform is now worth around $19 billion, plummeting from the dizzying heights of $44 billion Musk laid down back in October 2022.

Layoffs and Load of Changes

Musk dived into company management like Indiana Jones into a cave of snakes, drastically shaking things up. By the end of it, he had laid off about 80% of the staff and kicked off a rebranding marathon to transform Twitter into X. Some believe it’s an ‘X-periment,’ while others see it as an ‘X-odus’ from sanity.

The User Exodus: Disappearing Act of Daily Engagement

As the proverbial stock market rollercoaster worsens, X’s daily active user count has dropped nearly 20% since Musk took control. Users seemed to vanish faster than socks in a dryer! Advertisers are also jumping ship, with Musk admitting in July that he’ll be lugging around about half the advertising revenue he once had. Ouch!

Revenue Woes and Potential Pitfalls

The falling revenue isn’t just a buzzkill; it’s wreaking havoc on Musk’s debt servicing prospects. At present, X is staring down $1.2 billion in interest payments, adding to the roughly $13 billion debt burden. Maybe they should start selling branded socks to make up for it—the ones that keep disappearing.

Transforming X into an ‘Everything App’

While paradoxically wallowing in chaos, Musk has revealed plans for X to evolve into an “everything app”—inspired by Asia’s multifunctional super apps like WeChat. Can you imagine a Twitter feed mixed with financial services and video calls? But then again, with less than 1% of users opting for paid subscriptions, it seems this monetization plan could end up as elusive as a good Wi-Fi signal in a cafe.

Positive Highlights – A Silver Lining?

But not everything is doom and gloom! Some creators have seen a glimmer of hope with revenue-sharing payments for engagement. Recently, Musk stirred the pot by announcing that posts corrected by the Community Notes feature are now “ineligible for revenue share.” One might say he’s aiming to balance the scale of sensationalism with a pinch of accuracy.

“Any posts that are corrected become ineligible for revenue share. The idea is to maximize the incentive for accuracy over sensationalism.” – Elon Musk

As the ship sails on, only time will tell if Musk can navigate into calmer waters or will he be stuck in a storm of tweets and tumult.