Elon Musk reportedly eyes new ways to monetize tweets as he lines up next Twitter CEO

Elon Musk doesn't officially own Twitter yet, but he's already eying some changes.

Days after Twitter reached a deal with the Tesla CEO for him to buy the social media company, Reuters reports Musk has told banks he's looking to "develop new ways to monetize tweets."

According to the report, Musk says he's, in particular, looking to introduce "new ways to make money out of tweets that contain important information or go viral," with one idea being to charge websites a fee if they want to quote or embed tweets from verified accounts.

Musk has also reportedly said he has lined up a person to be the next CEO of the company but has declined to reveal who it is. Twitter's current CEO, Parag Agrawal, succeeded Jack Dorsey in November 2021 and is reportedly expected to stay on until Musk's purchase is completed.  

The news comes after Securities and Exchange Commission filings revealed Musk, who will be purchasing Twitter for $44 billion, sold Tesla stock worth over $8 billion this week. He said he has "no further" plans to sell any more shares. 

Musk previously said he planned to cut the salary of Twitter board members to $0 to save $3 million a year should his purchase go through, and according to Bloomberg, while speaking to bankers, he "floated the idea of cutting both costs and jobs."