X-formerly-Twitter is in serious trouble — and proprietor Elon Musk is on his knees, but once more, imploring advertisers to return.Whereas the New York Instances reported final week that executives on the beleaguered platform had assured workers that 65 p.c of advertisers had returned, paperwork obtained by Bloomberg present that income has total cratered since proprietor Elon Musk took over in late 2022.Now, Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino are again in harm management mode, making an attempt to scrounge up some much-needed funds at this 12 months’s Cannes Lions competition in southern France. The mercurial billionaire reportedly met with executives from the likes of the NFL, L’Oreal, Qualcomm, and Goal, in keeping with new reporting by the NYT.However whether or not these measures will assist Musk’s hate speech-ridden echo chamber from bleeding a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} per quarter stays to be seen.In spite of everything, who may overlook that Musk fairly actually advised advertisers to go fuck themselves in November — preventing phrases that doubtless did not sit nicely with the execs he is now pleading to return to X.Responding to questions over working his mouth throughout his DealBook Summit tantrum final 12 months, Musk sheepishly advised that he did not imply “advertisers as a complete.””Advertisers have a proper to look subsequent to content material that they discover suitable with their manufacturers,” he advised advert big WPP CEO Mark Learn throughout an interview on Wednesday. “What just isn’t cool is insisting that there could be no content material that they disagree with on the platform.””I do shoot myself within the foot once in a while, however at the very least you understand it’s real, not from the PR division,” he admitted.As Bloomberg’s newest report exhibits, Musk’s management has been disastrous for the platform. Income tanked by nearly 40 p.c within the first half of 2023 in comparison with the identical interval in 2022. The corporate misplaced a whopping $456 million within the first quarter of 2023 alone.Whereas it is unclear the place the corporate stands in 2024, the paperwork paint a troubling image of the corporate’s financials, with Musk repeatedly making headlines for utilizing the platform to additional conspiracy theories, go on racist rants, and unfold disinformation.In different phrases, it isn’t precisely a spot the place execs are dying to stuff their promoting {dollars}.Living proof, executives advised Advert Age that that they had little interest in listening to Musk and that he had been “antagonistic to causes and social points that they care about.”In the meantime, Musk used the chance this week to guarantee advertisers that AI — what else? — will as soon as once more save the day by making adverts extra related to prospects.”If you happen to’re making an attempt to succeed in senior determination makers, if you wish to attain probably the most influential folks on this planet,” Musk advised Learn, “the X platform is by far the very best.”But hundreds of thousands of customers, notably within the US, proceed to flee the platform as bots, scams, and spam proliferate, largely unchecked. Musk has additionally welcomed hate speech with open arms on Twitter, additional alienating the platform’s as soon as sizable consumer base.Extra on Twitter: Elon Musk Calls for Cash Again From Workers He Laid Off