Elon Musk claims that Twitter is now worth $20B – less than half of what he paid for it

Twitter is now worth just $20billion — less than half of what Elon Musk paid for it six months ago, the world’s richest man told his employees.

In a company-wide email on Friday, Musk said the social media giant has lost so much money in recent months that it is now worth jut $20billion, a whopping $24billion less than what he purchased it for in October.

He then went on to defend his decision to lay off thousands of employees in the months since he took the helm of the company, and sell off a variety of merchandise in recent auctions — claiming that Twitter was once just four months from being bankrupt.

But this is not the first time Musk, 51, complained about Twitter’s value.

He famously tried to fight his $44billion takeover of the company, claiming in court that internal documents proved the social media network was not worth that much.

In an email to employees on Friday, Elon Musk said the company is now worth just $20billion. He is pictured here in January

The world’s richest man had bought the social media giant in October for $44million

In his company-wide email on Friday, obtained by the New York Times, Musk defended his decisions to lay off massive swaths of employees, saying the ‘radical changes’ to the company were necessary to save money.

He claimed that Twitter should be looked at as an ‘inverse start-up’ as he tries to rebrand the company, saying: ‘Twitter is being reshaped rapidly.’

And if his efforts are successful, Musk suggested that Twitter can one day be worth $250billion.

His remarks came as he explained the new stock compensation package he is offering to the less than 2,000 employees still left at the company.

Under his plan, Twitter employees will receive stock grants for the company he established to buy the social media platform — the X Corporation — which will operate under the $20billion estimate.

Workers will then be able to sell and cash in on their privately-held stocks every six months. 

Doing so, he said, would allow employees to have ‘liquid stock, but without the stock price chaos and lawsuit burdens of a public company.’

Musk has previously implemented a similar program at his Space X firm. 

Musk (pictured) vowed to cut costs at Twitter immediately when he took it over back in October

The Tesla CEO took over the social media giant in a $44billion deal in October, immediately vowing to cut costs.

He immediately told half of the social media giant’s workforce that they would be let go in an email to their personal accounts, but many did not learn that their positions were terminated until they tried to sign in to company systems, like Slack or email, and found they no longer had an account. 

At the time, Musk defended the decision to fire 3,700 people, saying: ‘There is no choice when the company is losing over $4mn/day.’

Those who remained on board were then told they needed to sign a pledge to be able to stay on in their roles. Staff members received an email that read: ‘If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below.’ 

But in February, Musk once again reduced the staff to less than 2,000 employees. 

Musk saved some money at the company by auctioning off items like a high-end espresso machine, worth around $18,000, and two stationary bikes 

The billionaire also tried to save money by bidding off several items from the office’s kitchen and workstation online.

Among the items listed for sale from the San Francisco office were valuable luxury items, such as a $20,000 espresso machine, a $10,000 vegetable dryer and a $17,000 braising pan. An ‘@’ shaped planter is also up for grabs, along with chairs, tables and kegs.

Other items up for grabs on the list include several ice machines, fridges, pizza ovens, a coffee maker, projectors, Mac desktops, stationary bikes, several white boards and several unpackaged desks.