The New York Times reported this week that Twitter's value has collapsed, with the company now worth less than half of what billionaire Elon Musk paid for it last year.
The newspaper cited an email it obtained in which Musk unveiled a new stock compensation program to employees at the social media platform.
Under the provisions of Musk's stock compensation plan, employees will be given shares in X Corporation, which is the holding company he used to buy Twitter.
Workers would then be permitted to sell the stock every six months, an arrangement the Times said is similar to one which already exists at SpaceX.
Musk argued that the sale of private stock would provide Twitter employees with "liquid stock, but without the stock price chaos and lawsuit burdens of a public company."
Musk also cautioned that he is planning to bring "radical changes" to Twitter as part of an effort to stave off bankruptcy. This may include mass layoffs along with other attempts at streamlining the operation.
Fox Business reported in December that corporate interests had come under pressure from left-wing activists to pull their advertising from Twitter following Musk's purchase of the company.
Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.
Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022
Leftists object to Musk's preference for greater freedom for Twitter users as well as his decision to restore many accounts which had been previously banned.
Musk sparked outcry when he reinstated former President Donald Trump's Twitter last November even though Trump has yet to resume using it.
Fox Business quoted a letter signed by 40 left-wing organizations which told advertisers that they " have a moral and civic obligation to take a stand against the degradation of one of the world’s most influential communications platforms, and to hold Musk to the pledge he made to you to ensure that Twitter is a welcoming and civil place for everyone."
Those efforts appear to be having an impact, as Musk reportedly said that Twitter is now valued at $20 billion, which is $24 billion less than he originally paid for it.
Musk responded with a letter of his own to advertisers, saying, "There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide out society."
"There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide out society," he added.
