Can Elon Musk make Twitter more profitable?

Twitter has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange for about nine years. It has shown a net loss every year, except 2018 and 2019 when it made a profit of just over $1 billion.

Twitter's revenues are mainly derived from advertising. Its 'monetisable' user base of 217 million isn't large enough to make up its finances. In comparison, Facebook has 1.93 billion subscribers.

So far, Musk has downplayed economic considerations as a motivation for his purchase. He has said it's not a way to make money, and that he sees it as "extremely important to the future of civilization."

But he would still be looking to at least not lose money. Especially, since part of the acquisition could be financed by his own funds. A significant portion is through bank loans, which will increase Twitter's debt load.

Musk has not yet detailed how he intends to increase Twitter's revenue. He once suggested lowering the price of Twitter Blue, the paid version of the network, but later withdrew that tweet. Another option would be to cut the workforce, especially since he is in favour of less content moderation.