Elon Musk is attempting to court advertisers to come back to X as new records reveal the social media platform suffered a 40 percent downturn in the first six months of 2023 compared 2022.

Musk and CEO of X Linda Yaccarino reportedly flew out to the Cannes Lions festival for advertisers in southern France last week to persuade the companies to come back to the platform, which has experienced large budget holes ever since Elon Musk endorsed political views others saw as “antisemitic.”

Ad conglomerate WPP CEO Mark Read apparently asked Musk point-bank about his infamous “go f**k yourselves” comment. Musk replied that he was not talking about all advertisers, and said: “Advertisers have a right to appear next to content that they find compatible with their brands … What is not cool is insisting that there can be no content that they disagree with on the platform.” He added: “I do shoot myself in the foot from time to time, but at least you know it is genuine, not from the P.R. department.”

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Musk was also observed talking to spokespeople for the NFL, L’Oreal, Qualcomm, and Target, according to a report by the New York Times. Yaccarino, meanwhile, boasted about a new partnership with NBCUniversal to stream matches from the Paris Olympics and other sports series.

The Times reported last week that X executives attempted to set their staff at ease by saying 65 percent of advertisers had returned to the platform. But a report from Bloomberg, based off documents allegedly obtained by the outlet, claimed that revenue had plummeted by 40 percent in the first six months of 2023 compared to a year earlier, prior to Musk’s takeover.

Now, the Financial Times is claiming Yaccarino is shaking up the X staff in light of Musk’s increased pressure to raise income and plug up losses. The former NBCUniversal ad department leader fired her closest executive, head of business operations and communications Joe Benarroch earlier in June.


Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.

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