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SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter fired half of its 7,500 employees on Friday as new owner Elon Musk launched his major overhaul of the ailing company just a week after he acquired the company.
internal document he sees France Press agency He said “nearly 50 percent” of employees have been affected and will be denied access to company computers and email on an immediate basis.
Workers around the world were shown their doors closed and took to Twitter to express their frustration or disbelief and say goodbye to one of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies.
“Woke up to the news that my time at Twitter is over. I’m heartbroken. I’m in denial,” said Michelle Austin, Twitter’s director of public policy for the United States and Canada.
Musk tweeted Friday night in his first comment on the matter, 24 hours after the company’s initial email informing employees of something close: “Regarding downgrading the Twitter app, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing more than $4 million a day.” Layoffs.
Before the layoffs, Twitter closed access to its offices around the world, telling employees to stay at home while awaiting news of their fate via email.
“It’s a pretty inhumane way to treat people,” said a fired employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It seems like a mercenary attempt, trying to save money at any cost.”
The execution is part of Musk’s efforts to find ways to pay for the $44 billion mega deal for which he took on billions of dollars in debt and sold $15.5 billion worth of stock in electric car maker Tesla.
Musk’s teams have been setting a furious pace on the remaining employees, company sources said, bringing in Tesla developers to oversee the work of “Tweeps,” the insider’s Twitter name.
Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, reportedly owes $1 billion in annual interest alone to pay for a deal he tried to wiggle out of once it struck in April.
Musk has been struggling to find new ways for Twitter to make money after the massive acquisition, including an idea Users charge $8 per month For verified accounts.
These steps will help overcome the potential loss to advertisers, Twitter’s main source of revenue, with many of the world’s biggest brands suspending their ad purchases, fearing Musk’s known disdain for controlling content.
messed up!
On Friday, the mercurial businessman complained on Twitter of a “massive drop in revenue” which he blamed on “activist groups” pressuring advertisers.
He added, “We did everything we could to please the activists. We got so wrong! They are trying to destroy free speech in America.”
This appears to refer to Musk’s recent meeting with civil rights groups where he heard concerns that Twitter would open the floodgates to hate speech a week before the US midterm elections.
In an attempt to calm nerves, Musk vowed that Twitter would not become a “free-for-all” site, but since taking over the company, he has also posted a tweet relaying a conspiracy theory about an assault on the American House Spouse. Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“We are witnessing the veritable destruction of one of the most powerful communications systems in the world. Elon Musk is an eccentric billionaire who is seriously ill-equipped to run this platform,” said Nicole Gill, CTO of Accounting Technology.
It was part of a coalition of 60 human rights organizations calling on Friday for an advertiser boycott of the Musk-owned platform.
Derek Johnson, president of the NAACP, a leading civil rights organization, said it would be “extremely immoral, dangerous, and destructive to our democracy for any advertiser to fund a platform that fuels hate speech, election denial, and conspiracy theories.”
“Until actions are taken to make this space safe, we are calling on companies to pause all advertising on Twitter,” he added.
Twitter’s head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth tried to allay concerns, saying about 15% of his management has been let go compared to cuts of 50% companywide.
“The site’s core moderation capabilities are still in place,” he wrote in a tweet.
Despite its heavy influence with opinion-makers and celebrities, the Californian company has long struggled to turn a profit and failed to keep pace with Facebook, Instagram and TikTok in gaining new users.
In a sign that things are not getting any better, the data showed that Twitter may have lost more than 1 million users since Musk took over.
Estimates from Bot Sentinel, a company that tracks Twitter accounts, indicate that more than 875,000 users deactivated their accounts between October 27 and November 1, while half a million more were suspended.
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