Twitter India’s FY24 net tanks 90% amid falling ad revenue

Mumbai: Twitter Communications India, now part of X Corp (formerly Twitter), recorded a sharp drop in net profit and revenue in the last financial year, largely due to a collapse in ad revenues after the dismissal of the company’s global ad sales team under the new management led by Elon Musk.

As per the company’s regulatory filings, net profit plunged 90% to ₹3 crore from ₹30 crore the previous year. Revenue also fell 90% to ₹21 crore from ₹208 crore.

Advertising contributes bulk of Twitter’s revenue in India where it has an estimated 25 million users.

The company trimmed employee benefit expenses by 95% to ₹6 crore from ₹130 crore as it fired nearly the entire Indian workforce, which previously comprised over 200 employees. Subsequently, total expenses fell by 89% to ₹19 crore from ₹168 crore.

Twitter India didn’t respond to ET’s queries.

Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, eventually rebranding it as X. Following the takeover, Musk implemented sweeping changes globally, including mass layoffs that heavily impacted the ad sales teams, especially in India.
The dual blow of laying off the ad sales teams and global brands pulling back from the platform-due in part to disputes with Musk-fuelled a sharp decline in revenue.

Sajal Gupta, a digital advertising expert, noted that without an active sales team to maintain relationships with advertisers and attract new business, Twitter’s ad revenue in India nosedived, leading to steep declines in profitability and earnings. “This reflects the broader challenges X Corp has faced globally as it tries to implement new strategies under Musk’s leadership while managing the fallout from internal restructuring,” Gupta said.

Under Musk, X has even filed lawsuits against global advertisers like Unilever and Mars for boycotting the platform. According to Kantar research, a net 26% of marketers reported plans to reduce ad spends on X in 2025, the biggest recorded pullback from any major global ad platform.

Gupta explained that many global brands stopped advertising in India due to the ongoing tensions with Musk, and even within India, many brands are avoiding advertising on X due to the controversial nature of the platform and concerns over brand safety.

“In terms of advertising on social media platforms, X is typically a last priority for advertisers, with YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram taking precedence,” he said.

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