Less than a month after Musk takeover, half of Twitter’s top advertisers have halted activity: report

by Julia Shapero - 11/26/22 7:12 PM ET

FILE – Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks before unveiling the Model Y at Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne, Calif., March 14, 2019. Musk’s legal team is demanding to hear from a whistleblowing former Twitter executive who could help bolster Musk’s case for backing out of a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company. Twitter’s former security chief Peiter Zatko received a subpoena on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022, from Musk’s team, according to Zatko’s lawyer and court records. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Half of Twitter’s top advertisers appear to have halted their activity on the social media platform, amid billionaire Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover of the company.

Fifty of Twitter’s leading 100 advertisers have stopped advertising on the site as of Nov. 21, according to a recent report from the left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America.

Several of the companies officially announced their decision not to advertise on Twitter, including Chevrolet, Chipotle, Ford, Jeep, Kyndryl, Merck and Novartis. The remaining companies were identified by Media Matters’s analysis as “quiet quitters,” those that previously advertised on the social media site but have stopped for a significant period.

Another seven companies appear to be slowing down their advertising to almost nothing, according to the Media Matters report.

The 50 companies that halted advertising on the platform accounted for more than $750 million in spending on Twitter in 2022 and almost $2 billion overall since 2020.

Musk finalized his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter late last month and has since led a chaotic transition at the company. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said Twitter saw a “massive drop” in revenue in his first week, as advertisers pulled out over concerns about content moderation.

“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,” Musk said.

Musk laid off about half of Twitter’s workforce in his first week, claiming he had “no choice” amid the company’s poor financial condition. Several hundred more employees resigned in mid-November when Musk gave them an ultimatum — commit to a “hardcore” work environment or leave.

The billionaire has also made changes to the social media platform itself, unsuccessfully attempting to roll out a paid subscription service for Twitter’s blue check verification and reinstating former President Trump’s account. Musk has also indicated that he plans to reinstate other suspended accounts in the near future.