Twitter Inc’s new owner Elon Musk on Thursday raised the possibility of the social media platform going bankrupt, capping a chaotic day that included a warning from a U.S. privacy regulator and the exit of the company’s trust and safety leader.
The billionaire on his first mass call with employees said that he could not rule out bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported, two weeks after buying it for $44 billion – a deal that credit experts say has left Twitter’s finances in a precarious position.
Earlier in the day, in his first company-wide email, Musk warned that Twitter would not be able to “survive the upcoming economic downturn” if it fails to boost subscription revenue to offset falling advertising income, three people who have seen the message told Reuters.
Yoel Roth, who has overseen Twitter’s response to combat hate speech, misinformation and spam on the service, resigned on Thursday, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
In his Twitter profile on Thursday, Roth described himself as “Former Head of Trust & Safety” at the company.
Roth did not respond to requests for comment. Bloomberg and tech site Platformer reported his exit first.
Earlier on Thursday, Twitter’s Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner tweeted that she had quit.
Read more: Instagram introduces in-app ‘Schedule post’ feature
Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran and Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty also resigned, according to an internal message posted to Twitter’s Slack messaging system on Thursday by an attorney on its privacy team and seen by Reuters.
Robin Wheeler, the company’s top ad sales executive, told employees in a memo that she was staying at the company, a person who had seen the message said, diverging from earlier media reports that she too would be leaving.
“I’m still here,” Wheeler tweeted late on Thursday.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it was watching Twitter with “deep concern” after the three privacy and compliance officers quit.
These resignations potentially put Twitter at risk of violating regulatory orders.
Musk attorney Alex Spiro told some employees in an email late on Thursday that Twitter would remain in compliance.
“We spoke to the FTC today about our continuing obligations and have a constructive ongoing dialogue,” Spiro wrote.
He stated that only Twitter, not individual employees, could be held liable against the orders.
