Sales of the X platform, owned by Elon Musk, increased during the third quarter, but the social network is still saddled with huge expenses – including the cost of restructuring the company – at a time when the billionaire is trying to revive the business he acquired for $44 billion. People familiar with the numbers, who requested anonymity because the details are not disclosed, reported that the company, formerly known as Twitter, recorded revenue of $752 million during the three months ended Sept. 30, an increase of more than 17% compared to the same period last year. According to the people, X’s sales in the first nine months of the year exceeded $2 billion. X’s sales fell after the boom that followed the US elections. Quarterly losses due to restructuring charges. X spent much of the year with high costs, including restructuring expenses that led to a net loss of $577.4 million in the third quarter, according to the people. Despite the heavy losses, there are indications that the company has begun to stabilize after initially facing turmoil that led to a decline in business immediately after Elon Musk’s acquisition of it. One measure of profitability — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) — was about $454 million in the third quarter, up 16% from the same period last year. X also posted a year-over-year increase in revenue during the second quarter of this year, according to Bloomberg News. An X spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. X has historically relied on advertising as its main source of revenue, although in recent years it has made efforts to diversify the business by selling subscriptions and entering into data licensing agreements. The company’s financial statements did not specify the percentage of total revenue that advertising accounted for. The “X” business is still much smaller compared to its size when Musk acquired it in late 2022, when it was known as “Twitter,” as it recorded sales of $1.18 billion in the second quarter of that year, the last quarter in which it disclosed its results as a publicly traded company.