Tesla CEO and Twitter chief Elon Musk has begun massive layoffs at the social media company. The billionaire explained that there is no choice since Twitter is losing over $4 million a day. “Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,” he explained.
Mass Layoffs at Twitter
Twitter’s new boss, Elon Musk, has laid off about 50% of employees at the social media company. The billionaire sent an email to all Twitter employees Thursday evening informing them whether their employment has been terminated.
“In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday,” the letter states. “This action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward.”
The letter adds that by 9 a.m. PST on Friday, Nov. 4, “everyone will receive an individual email with the subject line: Your Role at Twitter … If your employment is not impacted, you will receive a notification via your Twitter email. If your employment is impacted, you will receive a notification with next steps via your personal email.” The letter continues:
To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended. If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home.
Musk explained in a tweet Friday that the workforce reduction was inevitable since Twitter is losing over $4 million a day. However, he emphasized that everyone who was let go was offered three months of severance, noting that it is 50% more than the legally required amount.
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, revealed Friday that Musk cut 50% of Twitter’s workforce company-wide. “Yesterday’s reduction in force affected approximately 15% of our Trust & Safety organization (as opposed to approximately 50% cuts company-wide), with our front-line moderation staff experiencing the least impact,” he tweeted. According to Twitter’s annual report, the company had over 7,500 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, 2021.
Twitter employees filed a federal lawsuit Thursday accusing the social media giant of violating a federal law called the Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act that governs notice of employment termination.
Massive Revenue Drop
Musk also revealed in a tweet Friday that “Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue.” Before his takeover, the social media company reported making 90% of its revenue from advertisers. However, major companies have stopped advertising on the platform allegedly over concerns about how Musk will affect content moderation policies.
The billionaire claimed “activist groups pressuring advertisers” led to the revenue plunge, “even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,” he tweeted Friday. “They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”
In an effort to generate revenue for Twitter, Musk has decided to charge $8 a month for users to have a blue checkmark by their name.
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