Elon Musk’s Twitter Pitch Deck Leaks, Revealing Big Plans for Revenue and User Growth

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been pretty tight-lipped about how he plans to run Twitter now that the social media company has accepted his $44 billion USD buyout offer.

However, Musk continues to seek co-investors for the deal and has been pitching a detailed plan for Twitter to prospective partners. The celebrity billionaire’s presentation slide deck recently leaked, revealing what Musk wants to do with Twitter beyond just making it “the platform for free speech around the globe” — reports the New York Times (via Tesla North).

Quintuple Revenue to $26.4 Billion by 2028

Musk is laser-focused on improving Twitter’s bottom line, and he expects to quintuple total revenue from $5 billion in 2021 to $26.4 billion by 2028.

The electric vehicle (EV) and rocketry pioneer also has other revenue-related goals in mind, including halving the share of advertising in the platform’s overall revenue from 90% in 2020 to 45% in 2028 and boosting Twitter’s payments business, which today only comprises tipping and shopping and yields little revenue, to a $1.3 billion segment by 2028.

According to Musk’s pitch, advertising would account for $12 billion of Twitter’s revenue in 2028, with $10 billion coming from subscriptions and the remainder being generated by a payments business, data licensing, and other activities.

Musk also projects an impressive growth in Twitter’s free cash flow to $9.4 billion by 2028, which should help offset the $13 billion of debt his acquisition will add to the company’s balance sheet.

Hit 931 Million Total Users by 2028

Another ambitious target outlined in Musk’s investor pitch is almost quintupling Twitter’s total number of users from 217 million at the end of 2021 to 931 million by 2028. What’s more, Musk plans to achieve those numbers after scourging bot accounts from the platform.

Not only will Musk increase how many users Twitter has, but he also plans to raise the platform’s average revenue per user from $24.83 in 2021 to $30.22 in 2028.

The slide deck also features a mysterious new product known only as ‘X’ that will launch in 2023, with nine million subscribers in its first year and a whopping 104 million by 2028. There was no word on what this product could be, but Musk has hinted at an ad-free experience for Twitter in the past.

Job Cuts and Hiring Waves

A previous report from last week indicated that Musk’s first priorities at Twitter will be monetization and job cuts, which the leaked slide deck corroborates. However, the world’s richest person ultimately plans to increase the total number of people working at Twitter, focusing more on quality rather than quantity with future hirings.

Musk estimates that Twitter will have 11,072 employees by 2025, up from around 7,500 today, with the company’s stock-based compensation costs rising up to more than $3 billion by 2028, from just $914 million in 2022.

A recent report noted that job interest in Twitter has spiked 250% since Musk announced his takeover plans. Musk will also pivot the focus of Twitter’s engineering talent to the development of more fruitful technologies. On Friday, he said, “If Twitter acquisition completes, company will be super focused on hardcore software engineering, design, infosec & server hardware.”

Musk added on Saturday morning that working at Twitter would be demanding. “Also, work ethic expectations would be extreme, but much less than I demand of myself,” added Musk.

While the leaked investor pitch features plans going all the way into 2028, Musk may actually take Twitter public again by that time. A report from earlier this week suggests that Musk could hold an initial public offering for Twitter in as few as three years after acquiring the company.

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