Musk’s X posts higher sales amid costly turnaround

[NEW YORK] Sales at Elon Musk’s X jumped during the third quarter, but the social network is still dealing with significant costs – including from the firm’s restructuring – as the billionaire works to turn around the business he bought for US$44 billion.

The company, formerly known as Twitter, reported US$752 million in revenue in the three-month period ended Sep 30, a jump of more than 17 per cent from the same period one-year prior, according to sources briefed on the numbers who declined to be identified as the details are private. Sales at X are over US$2 billion for the first nine months of the year, according to the sources.

Still, X has spent much of the year contending with high costs, including restructuring charges that led to a US$577.4 million net loss for the third quarter, the sources said.

Despite the large loss, there are signs that the company is stabilising after X initially struggled through turmoil that led to a declining business immediately following Musk’s acquisition. One measure of profit – Ebitda, or annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation – was roughly US$454 million in the third quarter, a 16 per cent increase from the same time last year. X also reported a year-over-year revenue increase in the second quarter of this year, Bloomberg News reported.

A spokesperson for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

X has historically made the bulk of its revenue from advertising, though there have been efforts in recent years to diversify the business by selling subscriptions and inking data licensing deals.

The company’s financial statements did not specify what percentage of revenue was generated by ads. X’s business is still much smaller than when Musk acquired the company, then known as Twitter, in late 2022. Twitter reported sales of US$1.18 billion in the second quarter of that year, it’s last quarterly earnings as a publicly traded company. BLOOMBERG