Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has revealed details on Twitter’s employees since taking over the microblogging service at the end of October. Musk immediately announced an austerity plan to make the platform profitable in return for a $44 billion cheque. This was critical since Musk had negotiated a $13 billion loan with annual interest payments of about $1.5 billion, which had been moved to the company’s financial sheet.
Twitter was also facing an exodus of advertisers who had elected to stop advertising their goods and services until Musk worked out the details of the content moderation policy he intended to adopt. The entrepreneur has always positioned himself as a “free speech absolutist,” which means he feels any tweet is permissible as long as it does not break the law. This laissez-faire strategy, according to many marketers, risks turning the platform into a “hellscape.”
The advertising flight had a severe financial effect on Twitter, with Musk claiming the firm was losing $4 million per day. In response, he announced an unusually huge staff reduction, eliminating half of the employment, or 3,750 people, in one day. A few days following the employment losses, the social network’s new owner instructed the remaining employees to work hard hours or quit.
“To construct a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and flourish in an increasingly competitive market, we will need to be tremendously dedicated in the future. This will include working long hours at a high level of intensity. Only outstanding achievement will result in a passing grade “On November 16, the billionaire wrote in an email to colleagues.
“If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below. Anyone who has not done so by 5 pm ET tomorrow will receive three months of severance.”
