Billionaire Elon Musk told banks that he plans to cut Twitter executive pay and monetize tweets if he buys the social giant, Reuters reports.
Musk told financial institutions that are helping him fund his $44 billion buyout attempt that he would slash the pay of company executives and board of directors as a way to cut costs.
Musk previously tweeted about eliminating the salaries of the company’s board of directors, which he claimed would save about $3 milion.
Corporate filings show that Twitter’s stock-based compensation for 2021 was $630 million.
Musk argued that Twitter’s margins were far lower than competitors like Facebook and Pinterest, insisting he would run the company more efficiently.
Monetize tweets:
Musk also said he planned to produce more cash flow by developing new ways to monetize regular tweets.
Musk said he plans to develop plans to make money from tweets that “contain important information or go viral,” according to the report.
One idea was to charge a fee when a third-party website wants to quote or embed a tweet from verified accounts.
Musk previously suggested on Twitter that he wanted to cut the price of Twitter’s premium offerings and eliminate advertising.
Job cuts?:
Musk also specifically mentioned job cuts as part of his pitch to the banks.
A source told Reuters that Musk will not make a decision on possible job cuts until he assumes ownership, which could take months if it happens at all.
The source said Musk moved ahead with the buyout offer even though he did not have access to confidential records on the company’s finances and headcount.
