Executives at X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, said they see YouTube and LinkedIn as long-term competition as they pursue new lines of business in video and recruitment.
Owner Elon Musk and Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino convened the two sites Thursday at a company-wide meeting to mark the one-year anniversary of the acquisition of Twitter Inc. by Musk, according to a user familiar with the matter. The duo also referenced their ambition to create a news service called XWire, which would rival Cision’s PR Newswire, the user said, asking not to be known because the discussion is private.
It was the first time Musk and Yaccarino had addressed the entire company together, the user said. Yaccarino was hired as CEO of X in May and joined NBCUniversal, where he held the position of advertising and partnerships.
Musk, the world’s richest man, struck a $44 billion deal to take Twitter personally on Oct. 27 a year ago. It temporarily fired most of the social platform’s executives and removed or caused the resignation of most of the workers.
Advertisers have left the platform and have been reluctant to return. Both Musk and Yaccarino have touted record time on the platform and have 500 million users, although, according to some third-party estimates, there are fewer people logging in than at the same time. last year.
While Yaccarino has focused on advertiser relations, Musk has focused on revamping the product by promoting premium subscriptions, converting account “verification,” and relying on a crowdsourced fact-checking formula called Community Notes.
X’s earnings still come largely from advertising, which accounts for about 75% of total sales, compared with 25% from subscriptions and data, the source said. Subscriptions increased by 25% to 30% quarter-on-quarter, depending on the user. saying.
But subscriptions still account for a small fraction of X users. Data from independent researcher Travis Brown shows that subscriptions account for less than 1% of the overall user base. X will target small and medium-sized businesses in 2024 to increase advertising revenue. the user said.
It’s unclear exactly what X’s competition will look like on YouTube, LinkedIn and PR Newswire, and executives have few details.
In a joint internal memo sent to X staff and seen via Bloomberg News, Musk and Yaccarino said the company is “now positioned to grow” and cited “a decade of innovation in just 12 months” on the platform.
Executives also discussed X’s ambitions for invoices in the interview with staff, adding in the memo that the monetary equipment “will provide more opportunities for other people and businesses. “
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