--- title: "Elon Musk Says That Under His Brilliant New Management, Twitter May Go Out of Business" description: "In emails to his new employees, freshly-minted Twitter czar Elon Musk told them that if they don't make money fast, the site may not survive." date: "2022-11-10" modified: "2022-11-10" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-twitter-survival" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Elon Musk Says That Under His Brilliant New Management, Twitter May Go Out of Business ![In emails to his new employees, freshly-minted Twitter czar Elon Musk told them that if they don't make money fast, the site may not survive.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## But His Emails In emails to his new employees, freshly-minted Twitter czar Elon Musk painted a pretty doom-tastic portrait of the road ahead for the social network's remaining employees — and told them that soon, they may all be out of a job. Emails Musk sent to Twitter staff that were [reviewed by the *New York Times*]() show that, at very least, he's repeating the same line internally as he is on his own account: Twitter needs to be monetized — or else. "Without significant subscription revenue," the serial CEO wrote, "there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn." And at a company meeting today, Musk [reportedly told employees]() that "bankruptcy isn't out of the question." https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1590750376118341632 ## PO'd It's not a great way to start a friendly CEO-staff relationship, to say the least, but it's nevertheless the posture Musk is taking as he makes sweeping changes to the social network that are, unsurprisingly, very unpopular with some of the workers left at the company following his [mass layoff of half of Twitter's staff](). "Elon has shown that he cares only about recouping the losses he’s incurring as a result of failing to get out of his binding obligation to buy Twitter," one disgruntled employee wrote in an email to coworkers, according to the *NYT*. "This will put huge amount of personal, professional and legal risk onto engineers: I anticipate that all of you will be pressured by management into pushing out changes that will likely lead to major incidents." To be fair, Twitter is now in some seriously dire financial straits under its new ownership, and per the *Times* is going to be required to pay $1 billion annually in interest under Musk's deal. Paired with advertisers' increasing wariness about the site's trajectory, things aren't looking great in Twitterland. Nevertheless, this whole mess is indeed shaping up to be as bad as many predicted, with the new CEO following through with his [$8 verification plan]() and all. It forces us to beg the question: was killing Twitter Musk's plan all along? **More Musk:** [*Elon Musk Is Suddenly Selling Tesla Stock Like Crazy*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()