Musk considers charging sites for embedding tweets

ELON MUSK has floated the idea of charging websites for embedding and quoting tweets as part of a drive for new revenue streams at Twitter.

The billionaire made the suggestion to bankers earlier this month while raising finance for his $44bn purchase of Twitter.

Mr Musk wants Twitter to charge a fee for quoting from or embedding tweets from verified individuals or organisations – accounts that are “verified” with the platform’s blue tick.

Twitter’s spending on stock-based compensation for its executives soared 33pc last year to $630m (£501m), according to stock exchange filings made this week.

Mr Musk has been vocal about changes he wants to make to the com- pany’s operations.

The Tesla chief executive has previously suggested changes to the Twitter Blue subscription service, currently priced at $2.99 a month.

He has floated the idea of cutting the subscription price, extending its term to a 12-month period instead of monthly, and automatically verifying all those who sign up for Twitter Blue.

Separately yesterday, Mr Musk disclosed an additional $4.5bn (£3.59bn) worth of Tesla share sales.

Bloomberg reported the total value of shares he has sold to fund his Twitter purchase is $8.5bn.

Tesla’s chief executive disposed of more than 5m shares on Thursday.

Earlier in the week he sold 4.5m shares, according to Stock Exchange Commission filings.