Elon Musk has claimed that he had no choice but to lay off thousands of Twitter employees as the platform was losing as much as $4 million every day. Taking to Twitter, Musk wrote: "Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day."
Twitter laid off half of its 7,500-person workforce as the company's problematic big restructuring under new owner Elon Musk got under way, only one week after his sensational purchase. According to an internal memo obtained by AFP, "approximately 50%" of the workforce was affected and would immediately lose access to business computers and email.
The big wave of job cuts at the microblogging site, according to Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, were required by the millions of dollars the business was losing every day. He emphasised that all people leaving their employment were given three months of severance pay, "which is 50% more than legally necessary," in an effort to lessen the damage.
A week after the $44 billion takeover that gave the billionaire businessman control of Twitter, the company announced employment layoffs. With Musk in charge, a lot has happened, from sacking executives to suggesting a new content moderation committee.
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Taking to the social media, Elon Musk wrote: “Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required."
Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.
Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.
In the days following his takeover, rumours surfaced that he intended to fire at least half the Twitter employees in an effort to reduce expenses and save money. Musk first denied the accusations, but on Friday he reversed course and started dismissing staff members.
Also read: Elon Musk asks Twitter managers to prepare list of people to be laid off: Report
The volatile businessman regretted a "huge loss in revenue" on Twitter on Friday, attributing it to "activist groups" who were pressing advertisers.
He said, "Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America."
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.
Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.
This seemed to be a reference to Musk's previous meeting with civil rights organisations, when he heard worries that Twitter will unleash a wave of hate speech a week before the US midterm elections.
Also read: Billionaire Elon Musk says Twitter will form 'content moderation council'; check details