Two weeks after purchasing the company for $44 billion, Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, said on Thursday (November 11) that it might go bankrupt even as a market regulator said it is watching developments at the microblogging company with concern. The platform’s top privacy and compliance officers have also reportedly quit.
Musk warned Twitter employees on a conference call that he could not rule out bankruptcy, Bloomberg news reported.
The company can lose billions of dollars in the upcoming fiscal year, he said. He had earlier claimed that the company is losing over four million dollars daily in part due to advertisers leaving after he took charge.
He also told employees to spend at least 40 hours per week in the office, saying remote work will no longer be permitted.
Meanwhile, the regulator Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it was watching developments in Twitter with “deep concern”. The FTC said that Musk was “not above the law”.
Earlier the company was accused by the FTC of using users’ personal information to target advertisers. Later in May it agreed to pay $150 million.
The company saw a few other departures of senior executives. Departures began after Musk acquired the company and fired top three officials including the CEO, CFO and policy chief who are expected to receive a severance of $122 million.
In the latest departures, Yeol Roth and Robin Wheeler resigned from the company, a source close to the officials told Reuters. Security head of the company, Lea Kissner also resigned. Other exits include the chief privacy officer and chief complaint officer.
To cope with costs, Musk last week announced to cut the company’s workforce by 50 per cent and even disclosed $8 for verification and blue tick charge policy.