Elon Musk – who once joked that the way to make a small fortune out of social media was to start with a large one – has seen the value of Twitter more than halve since he bought it.
The billionaire took control of the company, which is now known as X, to great fanfare last year in a deal worth £36billion.
But it is now worth just £16billion, leaving Musk nursing a £20billion loss on one of the most controversial takeovers in corporate history.
The slump in value seems to suggest he was right when he took to Twitter in November with a new take on an old joke, saying: ‘How do you make a small fortune in social media? Start out with a large one.’
Musk sent a letter to staff this week offering them equity in X at $45 (£36) per share.
Losses: Billionaire Elon Musk (pictured) took control of Twitter, which is now known as X, to great fanfare last year in a deal worth £36bn
While he said the move would give employees shares ‘without the stock price chaos and lawsuit burdens of a public company’, it values the company at far less than he bought it for in October last year.
The move comes as it continues to suffer in the face of a global advertising slowdown, as well as the teething problems seen under Musk’s management.
Over the summer, Musk warned it was running into trouble over the tough climate.
He has also slashed over half of the staff since taking the reins, leaving fewer than 2,000 working at the company.
Musk, who also runs Tesla and satellite company Space X, said this was to save X from bankruptcy and drive efficiency.
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