Even for a guy like Elon Musk, $44 billion is quite a chunk of money to spend on anything, even for the most valuable and influential social media platform in the world.
As often happens in the business world, cost-cutting measures are typically deployed upon acquiring a new business. According to a bombshell Bloomberg report Wednesday night, it appears the first money-saving cuts could come Friday in the way of firing roughly half of Twitter’s entire workforce.
That would be about 3,700 jobs, according to the report. Musk is also set to require a majority of whichever workers are left standing to actually come to work at the office, as we did back in the good ol’ days, effectively ending the work-from-home situation that became the new normal over the course of the pandemic.
Musk, as of this writing, hasn’t commented on Bloomberg’s report, but one Twitter user perfectly summarized why such a massive round of layoffs is probably the logical move at this point. Too many useless managers, and not nearly enough workers.
Because this is Twitter rn, basically. pic.twitter.com/LDVXuPdL8c
— Ember2528 (@ember2528) November 3, 2022
Twitter’s new owner aims to inform affected staffers Friday, said the people, who requested anonymity discussing non-public plans. Musk also intends to reverse the company’s existing work-from-anywhere policy, asking remaining employees to report to offices — though some exceptions could be made, the people said.
Musk and a team of advisers have been weighing a range of scenarios for job cuts and other policy changes at San Francisco-based Twitter, the people said, adding that the terms of the headcount reduction could still change. In one scenario being considered, laid off workers will be offered 60 days’ worth of severance pay, two of the people said.
Some of Twitter’s top executives have already been relieved of duty, including Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, finance chief Ned Segal, and senior legal staffers Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett.
Within days of taking over the now-private company, Musk dissolved Twitter’s board, eliminating Bret Taylor, Parag Agrawal, Omid Kordestani, David Rosenblatt, Martha Lane Fox, Patrick Pichette, Egon Durban, Fei-Fei Li and Mimi Alemayehou as members of the board.
Related: IT’S BEGUN: Elon Musk Lays Down the Law in Memo to Twitter Advertisers
The insider familiar with the developments also told Bloomberg that a process is already playing out as far as who will likely get the axe on Friday, or in the near future. It appears that Musk is deploying a meritocratic barometer to determine which Twitter employees have a shot at keeping their jobs. The hardest workers will be rewarded, as should be the case.
Bloomberg (emphasis added):
Senior personnel on the product teams were asked to target a 50% reduction in headcount, a person familiar with the matter said this week. Engineers and director-level staff from Tesla Inc., the carmaker also run by Musk, reviewed the lists, the person said. Layoff lists were drawn up and ranked based on individuals’ contributions to Twitter’s code during their time at the company, the people said. The assessment was made by both Tesla personnel and Twitter managers.
Musk has generated news every day since his acquisition of Twitter was finalized. Most recently, he broke the internet when reports swirled over the weekend that users will eventually be able to pay $20 for a new version of Twitter’s premium “Blue” subscription.
The new Twitter owner addressed the reports earlier this week, and decided to instead lower the price to $8 per month for his new vision. However, he still received intense pushback, mostly — and weirdly — from high-profile liberals, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who was quickly put in her place by the new Chief Twit.
Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
The bottom line is that it looks like the free ride for some 3,700 Twitter employees is over. Dems like AOC, who’ve enjoyed having the power of the Big Tech censorship lords on their party’s side, are obviously super triggered because Musk intends to transform into Twitter to the even playing field of free speech that it should have always been.
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