Elon Musk may never buy Twitter, but the billionaire’s bid for the company has left lasting damage to Twitter’s ad sales department, according to agencies and marketers. Twitter ad sales and agency representatives have been leaving the company in recent months because of the turmoil created by the billionaire’s acquisition offer, which is now in disarray.

“Quite a few people I know have gone elsewhere,” said one top ad agency executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “And if Twitter salespeople want to leave, they can easily find a job anywhere else.”

“Loads of people left,” said another agency executive, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I think that, honestly, there was a lot of backlash, people weren’t a fan of what [Musk] was coming out and saying … People were like frankly, ‘fuck this I’m out of here.’”

Some advertisers have also shifted spending away from Twitter in recent months, according to this agency executive, who has seen some clients move significant chunks of advertising dollars that would have been relegated to Twitter, but are now going to services like TikTok.

Agency executives called the talent drain “noticeable.”

On Tuesday, a Twitter spokesperson said attrition remains in line with current industry trends. And it’s unclear exactly how many sales staff have sought new jobs. There has been a wave of layoffs and budget cuts in parts of the advertising indusrty as marketers prepare for a possible downturn.

The deal saga

In April, Musk made a brash bid to buy Twitter for $44 billion, sparking a period of uncertainty for the company. The billionaire planned to take it private and promised to shake up the business by easing moderation standards. Advertisers were concerned about Musk’s vision to favor “free speech” policies, which could have shredded years of work the platform had done to quell harassment, hateful conduct and politically charged rhetoric. 

Even as Musk made the offer to buy Twitter, many were skeptical he would ever close the deal. Then, late last week, Musk announced that he was pulling out, after weeks of signaling he could leave the deal over the “bots” he claimed were more pervasive than he had realized.

Twitter has announced plans to sue Musk to force the deal at the agreed-upon terms. In the meantime, Musk has been trolling Twitter on its own platform, by claiming victory and taunting the service over his theories about bots and inauthentic activity.

“There will be negative implications for the platform, there already have been,” said Lou Paskalis, president and chief operating officer at Mobile Marketing Association, an industry trade group.

Twitter has been affected in a few crucial ways: Musk’s takeover initially unnerved brands that were worried his policies would affect moderation. Twitter’s employees were also shaken by the uncertainty. Staffers were concerned that Musk did not have the cultural sensitivity to continue the progress the company has made on diversity, equity and inclusion, among other initiatives around health and safety. Now, Musk’s broadsided attacks on Twitter over the “bot” question are leaving their mark, as well, according to advertisers.

“Morale has been shaken because this situation, I think, is unprecedented in the history of advertising,” Paskalis said.

'It’s dysfunctional'

Twitter is still holding strong with its core marketers, according to Paskalis, many of whom have rallied behind the company. “It probably has galvanized more marketers to support the platform than it’s cost,” Paskalis said.

There have been changes, though, inside the company and among advertisers, according to advertising executives who work closely with Twitter.

Some agency leaders said they haven’t heard from their Twitter reps in a while, and that’s unusual for an ad sales force that had been known as one of the most engaged in the industry.

“It’s dysfunctional,” said one agency exec, also speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It’s not going to get its fair share of advertising revenue because management and staff are distracted.”

The bulk of Twitter's revenue comes from advertising. Twitter’s ad revenue soared 40% to nearly $4.5 billion last year and increased 23% to $1.11 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

Beyond Musk, there are fears about a downturn in the economy causing brands to rethink how they spend on advertising this year. Also, there are changes to how data is shared online, as Apple and Google rewrite rules around tracking internet users, which are shaping new advertising strategies.

Twitter's share price, which had been holding up compared to other internet ad companies in recent months, in part because Musk's $44 billion deal was proceeding, saw a sharp decline in the past week. Twitter shares were down 15% in the past five days to $32.65, as of yesterday.

Walter T. Geer III, chief experience design officer at VMLY&R Health, said that he wasn’t surprised that some of Twitter’s advertising specialists would look for new work. Twitter had earned a reputation in Silicon Valley for its positive work environment, but the prospect of Musk coming in and changing everything could have motivated people to leave.

“We’re at a moment in time where people care about what a brand stands for,” Geer said. “If people are leaving, I get it, people want to be someplace that’s doing well, not just financially but in terms of what they’re actually doing for others.”

Ad agency leaders said that Twitter could ultimately thrive without Musk, because there could be more emphasis on brand safety, as there had been before Musk promised to alter the service.

“I will not stop presenting ideas that include Twitter [to clients], it still has significant reach and scale,” Geer said. “And now, even more so, knowing it’s not going to Elon and there’s no longer concern over inappropriate individuals spewing hate in messaging and delivering lies to people.”