Twitter bankruptcy 'not out of question', claims Musk

Elon Musk has warned employees at Twitter that it is at risk of bankruptcy, just two weeks after the billionaire took control of the business in a $44bn deal.

Speaking on his first mass call with staff on Thursday, Musk reportedly said he was not sure how much run rate the company had, and that "bankruptcy isn’t out of the question".

According to Reuters, the comments followed a company-wide email from Musk sent earlier in the day, in which he warned Twitter would not survive "the upcoming economic downturn" if it failed to offset a decline in advertising income by boosting subscription revenues.

Musk took control of Twitter on 27 October after months of trying to extract himself from the deal. Legal action had been about to start when Musk changed his stance.

Since taking control, he has made a number of often controversial changes, including immediately sacking thousands of staff, thought to be around half of Twitter's 7,500-strong global workforce. He also introduced an $8 per month charge for blue tick verification, as advertisers - concerned that Musk would scale back misinformation and security protections - started abandoning the platform.

A host of senior executives have also quit, including chief information security officer Lea Kissner. On Thursday she confirmed she had made "the hard decision" to leave and was "looking forward to figuring out what’s next".

Twitter’s chief privacy officer and chief compliance officer are also both understood to have resigned, according to multiple sources.

The US Federal Trade Commission told Reuters it was watching recent developments at Twitter with "deep concern".

Musk has also insisted all staff must now work at the office with immediate effect. Twitter had previously adopted a "remote-first" policy, but according to tech website Platformer, Musk told staff: "If you can physically make it to an office and you don’t show up, resignation accepted."