Elon Musk says Twitter will be free for casual users, but commercial and government users will have to pay.
Musk — whose immense wealth stems from the popularity of Tesla electric vehicles as well as other ventures said the platform might charge a “slight” fee for commercial and government users, part of the billionaire entrepreneur’s push to grow revenue which has lagged larger rivals like Meta Platforms Inc’s, Facebook.
“Twitter will always be free for casual users, but maybe a slight cost for commercial/government users,” Musk said in a tweet. “Some revenue is better than none!” he added in another tweet.
Musk also told the banks he planned to develop features to grow business revenue, including new ways to make money out of tweets that contain important information or go viral, sources told Reuters.
Musk, the world’s richest man, struck a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, capping a saga complete with hostile takeover threats before delivering him personal control of one of the most influential social media platforms on the planet.
Musk bought a nine-percent stake in Twitter earlier in April, then offered to buy the whole company outright, citing a mission of preserving free speech.
The publicly traded firm has now become a private company owned by Musk, who negotiated a purchase price of $54.20 per share, Twitter said.
Musk’s efforts have raised hopes about the commercial potential of Twitter, which has struggled to achieve profitable growth despite its important spot in culture and politics.
READ: World’s Richest Man Elon Musk To Buy Twitter For $44 Billion
