Elon Musk’s photo is seen through a Twitter logo on this illustration taken October 28, 2022.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
Twitter employees expect a 50% overall reduction in force after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took the reins of the social network last week. That amounts to about about 3,700 employees.
The newly minted CEO of Twitter is predicted to require employees on the social network who were once authorized to work remotely to report back to Twitter offices in and beyond San Francisco, in response to Bloomberg, which first reported on the anticipated layoffs.
In accordance with internal communications viewed by CNBC, Musk planned to satisfy with an inner circle of individuals advising him at Twitter to debate the layoffs. Those invited included enterprise investor David Sacks of Craft Ventures, The Boring Company President Steve Davis, together with Sam Teller and Antonio Gracias from Valor Equity Partners. Gracias is a long-time investor in Musk’s other firms, including SpaceX and Tesla, and was a Tesla board member.
A calendar item for the reduction in force related meeting was made widely visible, possibly by chance, to employees at Twitter on their internal systems.
As CNBC previously reported, Musk quickly brought many trusted advisors and employees from his other firms into Twitter to advise him on next steps after the deal closed last week.
Earlier this yr, Musk enacted an identical return-to-office policy at Tesla, his electric vehicle business, from which he has derived most of his considerable wealth.
At Tesla, employees who did return to the office were frustrated by long commutes, and a scarcity of parking, equipment and space needed to effectively get their work done.
After acquiring Twitter for $44 billion last week, Musk is scrambling to enhance margins, including by slashing headcount and operating expenses and finding latest ways to generate revenue.
Between 2010 and 2021 Twitter’s total revenue amounted to about $25 billion, its research and development spending amounted to about $7.8 billion and its net income was within the red around $1.3 billion cumulatively.
Amongst other things he has proposed a subscription product that costs $8 per thirty days and would come with so-called “blue check” verification for subscribers. All other users on Twitter wouldn’t give you the option to achieve the blue checks, a marker that claims the account holder is the one who they are saying they’re on Twitter.
