In first email to Twitter staff, Musk says 'good chance' company won't survive without subscriptions

New Twitter owner Elon Musk this week fired off his first company-wide email to the staff of the social media giant, warning them the company could collapse without switching to a subscriber-based model. 

The 2:30 a.m. email, obtained by several news outlets including CNBC, warned staff that "the economic picture ahead is dire especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate."

"Moreover, 70% of our advertising is brand, rather than specific performance, which makes us doubly vulnerable," he said. 

Musk has debuted plans to launch a subscription-tier service to Twitter in a bid to generate revenue for the company. In the email he warned that this model is likely necessary for the social media corporation's survival. 

"Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn," he said. "We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription."

He added that Twitter was immediately switching to a strict work-from-office policy. 

"We are also changing Twitter policy such that remote work is no longer allowed unless you have a specific exception," he said. "Managers will send the exception lists to me for review and approval."

"Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable," he added.