Musk is trying to make more money by throwing everything against the wall.
Two people with knowledge of the matter and internal documents viewed by The New York Times say that Mr. Musk and his advisers have considered adding paid direct messages to the service.
These people said that they talked about adding "paywalled" videos, which would mean that certain videos wouldn't be viewed unless users paid a fee. They have talked about reviving the one-time short-form video platform, which could attract a younger audience.
A method of making sure users are who they say they are is being used by Mr. Musk. The program, which is currently free, will be rolled into the "Twitter Blue" subscription service, which will provide enhanced features for a monthly fee.
The pressure that Mr. Musk is under to deliver immediate results is underscored by the product development that is happening. He put the company with $13 billion in debt on the hook to pay $1 billion a year in interest.
The company had less than $1 billion in cash flow last year and was unprofitable for eight years. To make ends meet, Mr. Musk needs to either increase revenue or reduce costs.
Mr. Musk has ordered a reduction in staff. According to a copy of the message seen by The Times, a link to a "severance calculations" document was posted by an employee of the social network.
The deal was a big one. Musk made an offer worth $44 billion for the social media platform, saying he wanted to turn it into a private company and allow people to speak more freely. The battle that followed lasted months.
There was a move. The price Mr. Musk agreed to pay for the company in April was proposed on October 4. The purchase of the company was completed on October 27th.
If that is the number of people who could be laid off, it will make up about half of the work force. The copy of the message states that interns were not included. Some of Mr. Musk's advisers held a conference call on Wednesday to try to finalize the number of cuts.
Mr. Musk is trying to reduce the cost of infrastructure. According to three people familiar with the talks, his advisers have suggested saving up to $3 million a day in infrastructure costs. The people said that lieutenants are looking to make deep cuts to the Redbird organization.
There are difficulties in earning advertising revenue under Mr. Musk. General Mills said on Thursday that it had stopped advertising on the platform because of the moderation issues.
Representatives for Mr. Musk did not reply to questions. Some details of the company's plans were reported earlier.
Mr. Musk said in an onstage interview that he doesn't care about economics at all.
The global economy has tipped towards recession, inflation and interest rates have soared, and the digital advertising market has pulled back. Mr. Musk has a lot of money tied up in the stock of his electric car company.
According to 10 current and former employees and internal documents, Mr. Musk and his advisers have dispatched product teams to come up with any and all ideas that could quickly bring in money. Three people who have met with Mr. Musk said the focus was on increasing revenue.
Two people with knowledge of the work said that one product team is working on paid direct messaging which appears to be focused on Very ImportantTweeters. Users would be able to send private messages to their favorite celebrities for a nominal fee according to the product mock-ups. A fee structure that was not set in stone could be as low as a few dollars per message.
The musician was asked about his favorite records by a user. The celebrities would have to decide if they want to receive the paid messages. The documents show that a cut of the fees is likely.
People with knowledge of the matter said that there is no guarantee that the product will launch.
The product teams are working on "paywalled" videos, an idea similar to offerings from platforms like Onlyfans, which hosts content for creators in the adult content industry. Two people familiar with the project said that under the plan, users would be asked to pay to watch a video.
The looping video app that was popular among young creators before it was shut down in 2016 has been shown interest by Mr. Musk. Two people familiar with the conversations said that he commanded internal teams to look at the code to see if it could be revived.
According to internal documents seen by The Times, Mr. Musk plans to launch his new subscription service in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on November 7. The documents suggested that subscribers don't need their identities to be verified.
There would be an interim period where the check would be on both Blue subscribers accounts. The check marks for verified accounts will be lost eventually. A person with knowledge of the service says there were more than 400,000 verified accounts at the end of October.
Government accounts will be kept without paying for Blue, according to the documents. The ability to upload longer videos and higher rankings for replies would not be available on Nov. 7, according to the documents. The European launch of the product was planned with the team working to align the product with the EU privacy law.
The product must be ready for introduction by next week or face being fired. Esther Crawford, one of the product managers, shared a photo of herself on Wednesday wearing an eye mask and sleeping in a sleeping bag.
Sometimes you need to sleep where you work when your team pushes around deadlines.
Several people contributed reporting.
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