Elon Musk mentioned he purchased Twitter as a result of it was the “proper factor to do” however admitted that it has been “painful” and “traumatic”.

The billionaire additionally mentioned that the social media firm is “roughly breaking even” as advertisers have began to return again.

He made the feedback in an interview with the BBC which was broadcast reside on Twitter Areas and attracted greater than three million listeners.

When requested if he had any regrets about shopping for Twitter, Musk mentioned the “ache degree has been extraordinarily excessive, this hasn’t been some sort of social gathering”.

“Have been there many errors made a protracted the best way? After all,” he mentioned. “However all’s effectively that ends effectively, I really feel like we’re headed to a very good place.”

Twitter has been hit by an enormous decline in promoting since Musk acquired the corporate for $44 billion in October. Musk had mentioned that was because of the cyclical nature of spending on promoting and a few of which was “political” however most of its advertisers have returned.

He mentioned firing hundreds of employees was “not enjoyable in any respect”. There are actually 1,500 Twitter employees in contrast with practically 8,000 when he purchased it.

Issues over Twitter’s stability have been widespread because the Musk deal.

Musk, 51, additionally runs Tesla, the electrical carmaker, and SpaceX, the rockets and satellites group. He’s the world’s second richest particular person, in accordance with Bloomberg, with a $181 billion fortune largely derived from stakes within the two firms.

When requested if he would promote Twitter if he was provided the worth he paid for it, he mentioned no. He then clarified that saying he would however provided that he may make sure that the customer was as dedicated to telling the reality.

On tweets, he mentioned: “Have I shot myself within the foot with tweets a number of instances? Sure. I feel I mustn’t tweet after 3am.”

At one stage within the interview, Musk stopped the BBC correspondent James Clayton to remind him that he’s “now not the CEO of Twitter”. When requested who was, Musk named his pet canine Floki, a Shiba Inu.

He added that Twitter would replace the BBC’s “government-funded media” tag after the broadcaster objected to the label hooked up to the primary @BBC account.

Musk mentioned he has the “utmost respect” for the organisation. “We wish [the tag] as truthful and correct as doable — we’re adjusting the label to [the BBC being] publicly funded — we’ll attempt to be correct,” he mentioned.

He beforehand described the BBC as “among the many least biased” information organisations.

The broadcaster mentioned in an announcement after the label was launched: “The BBC is, and all the time has been, impartial. We’re funded by the British public by the licence price.”

On the problem of legacy verified blue ticks on Twitter, Musk mentioned they’d be all be faraway from accounts by subsequent week.

He admitted he had an “odd” relationship with the media, describing it as “love-hate, maybe extra hate”.

“The media is ready to trash me frequently within the US and the UK,” he mentioned, including that in some nations “the media can’t say imply issues about highly effective folks”. Though he feels that it’s good to have a free press, during which he and different “highly effective folks” may be criticised.