Twitter begins laying off staff following acquisition by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk
Thousands of Twitter staff are expected to be let go over the next 24 hours, including some of its local workforce.
Twitter has begun the process of laying off staff following its acquisition by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, a cull including some of its local Australian workers, according to a staff-wide email seen by The Australian.
“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 email, addressed from ‘Twitter’, reads.
“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 office or on your way to an office, please return home.
“We acknowledge this is an incredibly challenging experience to go through, whether or not you are impacted. Thank you for continuing to adhere to Twitter policies that prohibit you from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.”
The cull is expected to impact about half of Twitter’s 7500 global workforce, according to previous internal company communications, though it’s unclear how many of the company’s dozens of Australian employees will be affected.
The company will email impacted employees via their personal email addresses, and employees who are not impacted will be notified via their Twitter email addresses.
“We are grateful for your contributions to Twitter and for your patience as we move through this process,” the email reads.
Twitter closed its local physical office in Sydney earlier this year, and former managing director Suzy Nicoletti departed in February.
As The Australian reported on Thursday Mr Musk is planning a raft of changes at the company he acquired for $US44bn ($69bn), including a revamp of the coveted ‘blue tick’ used to verify high-profile users including journalists, celebrities and public figures.
It comes as top global companies, including General Mills and Volkswagen, suspended their advertising on Twitter on Thursday as pressure builds on Elon Musk to turn his platform into a successful business.
“We have paused advertising on Twitter,” said Kelsey Roemhildt, a spokesman for General Mills, whose brands include Cheerios and Häagen-Dazs.
“As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend,” the spokesman added, confirming a report by the Wall Street Journal.
The report, citing anonymous sources, also said that Volkswagen, drug giant Pfizer and Oreo-maker Mondelez International hit pause on Twitter ads.
US auto giant General Motors last week was the first major advertiser to suspend advertising following the takeover by Musk of Twitter for 44 billion dollars.
Officials and civil rights groups have expressed worry that Musk will open the site to uncontrolled hate speech and misinformation as well as reinstate banned accounts, including that of former US president Donald Trump.
Advertisers are Twitter’s main source of revenue and Musk has tried to calm the nerves by reassuring that the site would not become a “free-for-all hellscape”.
Yet as a potential alternative source of revenue, Musk has touted an idea to charge $US8 per month to verify users’ accounts, arguing the plan would create a new revenue stream for the company.
Additional reporting: AFP
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