An internal Twitter document reportedly shows ad revenue down 59%, casting doubt on Elon Musk's statement that 'almost all advertisers have come back'

Advertising revenue is down at Twitter, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times. Susan Walsh/AP

• Internal Twitter documents show the platform’s ad revenue down 59% year-over-year, The New York Times reported.
• The news comes after Elon Musk said that “almost all advertisers” had returned to the platform.
• Growing ad revenue will likely be a top priority for Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino.

Things might not be as rosy at Twitter as Elon Musk wants you to believe — and any possible mess is going to be the responsibility of the company’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, who appears to have taken the helm Monday.

The platform’s revenue from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59% compared to the same time last year, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times. The same document outlined that Twitter routinely fell short of its weekly US sales projections, the Times reported.

The Times spoke to seven current and former Twitter employees who said they don’t expect things to turn around soon. An internal document forecasted that revenue for each week in June will be down at least 56% compared to last year, the Times reported.

The news come less than two months after the platform’s owner and then-CEO Musk said that ad revenue was on the upswing following a dip when he took over.

“Almost all advertisers have come back or said they are going to come back,” he told BBC in April.

Linda Yaccarino appears to have begun her tenure as Twitter’s new CEO on Monday. She’ll face an uphill battle bringing back advertisers to the platform. Isaac Brekken/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images

When the controversial and unpredictable Musk first took over in October 2022, ad revenue was immediately impacted as hate speech skyrocketed and content moderation dropped off .

In his first 25 days as CEO, half of  Twitter’s top 100 advertisers left the platform. In December 2022, revenue fell 40% compared with same month in 2021.

While some of those advertisers have returned, the new report shows that not enough have come back to make up for lost revenue.

The problem will be top on the list for new CEO Yaccarino, whose rich advertising background must have appealed to Musk.

As the head of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, Yaccarino was responsible for managing a $13 billion ad business, and she gained a well-respected reputation in the advertising world.

But she’s coming into the position with a thin team — particularly when it comes to those who handle advertisers’ concerns.

Last week, two executives on Twitter’s trust and safety team left the company, including one person responsible for protecting Twitter’s brand and ensuring advertisers feel safe placing ads on the platform.

Without a strong team — and with a less than predictable owner giving directives — Yaccarino is likely facing an uphill battle. After all, Twitter responded to Insider’s request for comment with its routine response to press inquiries: a poop emoji.