Mr. Elon Musk recognized that a prolonged boycott may bankrupt X, but he indicated that the public would blame the brands rather than him for the company’s demise.
Elon Musk has slammed companies that have withdrawn their advertising from X after he promoted an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on the social media site.
Mr. Elon Musk apologized for the post on Wednesday at the DealBook Summit in New York but said the advertisers were attempting to “blackmail” him. His advice to those companies was straightforward: “Don’t advertise,” and he used obscenity several times to reinforce his point.
Also read: Could X go bankrupt under Elon Musk?
About 200 major advertisers, including Disney, Apple, and IBM, stopped spending on X after Mr. Musk agreed with a post accusing Jewish communities of instilling “hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” If the freeze continues, it could cost the company up to $75 million this quarter, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times.
Although Mr. Musk acknowledged that an extended boycott could bankrupt X, he suggested that the public would blame the brands rather than him for the company’s demise. Mr. Musk singled out Disney CEO Bob Iger, who told the event earlier that “the association with that position, and Elon Musk, and X was not necessarily a positive one for us.”
Also read: X Lose Up to $75 Million in Revenue as more brands pull out
In retrospect, Mr. Musk stated that he should not have responded to that specific message and “should have written in greater length what I meant.”
He went on to say, “I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and to those who are antisemitic and for that I am quite sorry.”
Mr. Musk’s strong posture is likely to irritate investment banks sitting on billions of dollars in debt that aided his takeover of the firm last year. Mr. Musk hired an industry veteran, Linda Yaccarino, to help mend connections with big companies, and advertising accounts for the majority of X’s revenue. When he delivered his remarks, Ms. Yaccarino was in the crowd.
