X Ad Revenue Numbers Revealed in SpaceX IPO Filing

Newly disclosed internal financials from SpaceX’s initial public offering filing provide a clear look at the fluctuating advertising revenue of X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter. The data reveals a significant decline following Elon Musk’s acquisition, followed by a modest recovery in 2025 [2].

Key takeaways

• X’s advertising revenue fell from more than $4 billion in 2021 to $1.73 billion in 2024 [2].
• In 2025, the platform’s ad revenue increased to $1.84 billion, marking the first rise since Elon Musk purchased the company [2].
• The decline followed a 2023 incident where Musk told advertisers at a conference, "Go fuck yourself," after an advertising boycott [2].
• SpaceX reports X and Grok have 6.3 million active paid subscribers, generating hundreds of millions in recurring revenue [2].

A timeline of decline and recovery

In 2021, Twitter’s last full year as a public company, it generated more than $4 billion in advertising revenue. Following Musk’s acquisition and subsequent rebranding to X, that figure dropped to $2.3 billion in 2023 and further to $1.73 billion in 2024 [2]. The filing attributes this drop to an advertising boycott that intensified after Musk told marketers at a 2023 conference, "If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself" [2].

The financial data indicates a turnaround in 2025, with ad revenue rising to $1.84 billion, the first increase since the takeover [2]. However, the company noted a $100 million hit in the first quarter of that year due to an overhaul of its advertising platform [2]. Despite the overall growth, the filing acknowledges that the business took a temporary hit during the rebuild of its ad sales infrastructure [2].

Strategic shifts and new revenue streams

To diversify income, the company is focusing on subscriptions, reporting 6.3 million active paid subscribers across X Premium and Grok tiers [2]. These subscribers include approximately 4.4 million X Premium and Premium+ users and 1.9 million SuperGrok users [2]. The filing outlines ambitions to grow ad revenue per user through AI-driven targeting and richer ad formats, aiming to make ads feel like content [2]. SpaceX’s filing identifies a $600 billion advertising market opportunity and a $760 billion consumer subscriptions market, positioning X to compete for share against major tech and entertainment firms [2].

Why it matters

These figures offer the first transparent look at X’s financial performance under private ownership, highlighting the volatility of its core business model. While the advertising business appears to be stabilizing, the company is betting heavily on a "creator era" and AI-driven tools to compete with established players like Disney, , and for both ad dollars and subscription revenue [2]. The success of this strategy remains critical as X attempts to recover from the significant revenue losses incurred immediately following the change in leadership [2].