Elon Musk Says Twitter Worth $20 Billion, or Less Than Half What He Bought it For

Chief Twit also told employees that, at some point during his reign, the app was four months away from running out of money

Elon Musk has revealed that he believes Twitter is currently worth $20 billion, or less than half the $44 billion he purchased it for just five months ago.

In a companywide email Friday obtained by the New York Times about employee stock grants, Musk admitted that the company’s value since going private, in his estimation, is roughly $20 billion; in the aftermath of Musk’s acquisition, many advertisers — the social network’s main source of income — fled the service, and as Vox reported earlier this week, haven’t returned.

Elsewhere in the email, Musk said that at one point Twitter was four months away from running out of money, which sparked the need for mass layoffs and other cuts. However, an optimistic Chief Twit also told the employees that still remain there that “I see a clear, but difficult, path to a >$250B valuation,” and that he now views Twitter as an “inverse start-up.”

According to the New York Times, Twitter’s $20 billion valuation puts them in similar company to what Snapchat is worth now, even as that app is struggling to retain users thanks to the emergence of TikTok; even with that comparison, Snapchat averages over 100 million more daily users than Twitter. 

Musk’s $20 billion valuation comes just days before Twitter pledges to make good on their plan to scrub the legacy blue checkmarks from the service, leaving a sea of verified (a.k.a. paid) Twitter Blue users who — in keeping with the other bad ideas introduced during Musk’s reign — might hide their purchased checkmarks in shame.

When reached by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal about Musk’s $20 billion valuation, Twitter communications responded with their auto-reply: “????”