Musk plans to charge companies $1,000 a month to maintain verification badge, but Twitter is saved from bankruptcy

Twitter has already been saved from bankruptcy, or so, at least, claims its owner Elon Musk. Nevertheless, this social media platform obviously needs a lot of money, and that's why Musk decided to collect that money from the official pages of the companies; and it's about quite a lot of money.

Gold verification badge for $1,000

Billionaire Musk wants to charge companies with a Twitter presence $1,000 per month—plus an additional $50 per month for each account owned by that company's affiliate—to keep their gold verification badge. Social media consultant Matt Navarra wrote about this. And later The Information confirmed this information, adding that the prices are currently being adjusted and may change.

According to Variety, new pricing for gold check-mark status falls under the new Twitter Blue for Business service, which is “a new way for businesses and their affiliates to verify and distinguish themselves on Twitter,” the company announced in December.  Under their primary account, Twitter Blue for Business customers are able to link affiliated individuals, businesses, brands—and even “movie characters”—which will get a small badge of their parent company’s profile picture next to their own blue or gold check-mark. Twitter also introduced new square profile pictures for companies and brands, and it has applied gray check-marks to governmental accounts.

Over the next few months, Twitter will phase out all outdated verification badges, Musk said, and eventually only individuals and businesses willing to pay for it will have verified status.

Twitter survived bankruptcy?

After acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk began to actively reduce the number of employees in the company—there were about 7,500 employees, whereas now there are 2,300—, sold a lot of office furniture, and cut costs in every way. As a result, according to Musk, the company was saved from bankruptcy in three months.

“Last 3 months were extremely tough, as had to save Twitter from bankruptcy, while fulfilling essential Tesla & SpaceX duties. Wouldn't wish that pain on anyone. Twitter still has challenges, but is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it. Public support is much appreciated!" Elon Musk wrote on his social media platform.

Twitter recently made the first payment on a $12.5 billion credit facility. Twitter's first debt repayment boosted investor confidence that the company could avoid bankruptcy in the short term.

In October 2022, Elon Musk became the nominal owner of Twitter, buying the company for $44 billion. However, he and other creditors needed another $12.5 billion to fully cover the company's expenses, so they had to borrow the remaining amount—and at a rather high interest rate. The first payment within the framework of this loan was about $300 million.