Twitter's revenue and adjusted earnings plunged by 40 per cent on an annual basis in December as several advertisers withdrew after Elon Musk took charge of the company, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The decline was announced in an update to the California-based company's investors, the Journal reported on Friday.
Advertising spending on the social media platform has dropped 71 per cent since Mr Musk took over the company, which he bought on October 27 for $44 billion, data from research company Standard Media Index shows.
The reported drop in revenue may not come as a surprise because Mr Musk has alienated users and advertisers over his handling of the company.
He emphasised the importance of its reach in a tweet on Thursday.
"The ability of Twitter advertising to reach the most influential people in the world is often not fully appreciated," Mr Musk said.
"While a few other social networks are technically bigger, Twitter is where the writers and leaders spend their time."
It is unclear whether this tweet was related to the story in the Journal. Twitter has not responded to the news or requests for comment from The National.
Meanwhile, Mr Musk has been accused of delaying Twitter's payment for Amazon's cloud computing services "for months", prompting the e-commerce company to threaten to withhold its advertising payment to Twitter, The Information reported on Friday.
Sales and marketing staff at the social media company were informed by colleagues in February about Amazon's threat, the report said.
Twitter and Amazon have not yet responded to the story.
Mr Musk's time at the helm of Twitter has been tumultuous, marked by controversial moves.
He has sacked more than half of the company's employees and shut down units and offices globally, raising concerns that there may not be enough people to carry out oversight roles in key areas of its operations.
Mr Musk previously claimed the company was losing $4 million a day and laid out plans to boost the platform's revenue by five times to $26.4 billion by 2028.
In November, he raised the possibility of the company going bankrupt.
In Twitter's last financial report before its acquisition, the company swung to a net loss of more than $270 million in the second quarter of 2022, compared with a net income of about $65.6 million in the same period a year earlier.
Last month, Mr Musk said Twitter's algorithm could be opened up to the public, but nothing has yet come to fruition.
Such a move would set the stage for a major shift in the company's direction, as opening up the company's code will allow the public to inspect and scrutinise the social media company's proprietary software, pitch their ideas to developers on how to change Twitter's algorithm or even use it in their own apps.
Last month, Twitter said it would charge its users to use two-factor authentication to secure their accounts through text message, another apparent move to tap into new revenue streams.
The company is also moving forward with plans to introduce a payments feature on its platform, steering it towards Mr Musk's plans to tap into new revenue streams, the Financial Times reported in January.
Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai last month, Mr Musk said the journey so far had been “quite a rollercoaster” as he tried to “stabilise Twitter”.
He said he went ahead with the purchase because he wanted to create a trusted digital platform.
The Information has also reported that Mr Musk is assembling a team that includes a former engineer at a unit of Google parent Alphabet, to develop a rival to OpenAI's text-based program ChatGPT.
Mr Musk is in discussions with Igor Babuschkin, who recently left DeepMind AI, to lead a group of artificial intelligence researchers in the endeavour. The talks have been going on "in recent weeks".
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MATCH INFO
Southampton 0
Manchester City 1 (Sterling 16')
Man of the match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Zayed Sustainability Prize
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
The biog
Marital status: Separated with two young daughters
Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo
Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian
Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness
Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon
Secret Nation: The Hidden Armenians of Turkey
Avedis Hadjian, (IB Tauris)
