Elon Musk has assumed control of Twitter this week, booting some of the top executives the minute he came through the door, and declaring himself “Chief Twit.”
Further, he has also reportedly ordered company-wide layoffs.
This by Nick Arama on redstate.com.
Twitter has approximately 7500 employees. It’s not clear yet how many have gotten the boot, but the report indicated it was immediate.
Musk has said repeatedly that he intends to make the company profitable which will include paring down the employee numbers.
Before he came in, there were reports he’d told investors that he could lay off as many as 75 percent of the employees.
But then he reportedly told employees it wouldn’t be that many.
The report suggested that people would be booted immediately because if the layoffs happen after Nov. 1, employees would get “stock grants as part of their compensation.”
The top executives he already booted—the CEO, chief financial officer, head of legal, and general counsel—were reportedly fired “for cause,” which means they aren’t going get the million-dollar payouts that they would get just for severance.
Twitter’s securities filings show that senior executives are entitled to a year’s pay and accelerated vesting of at least a portion of their unvested stock awards if they are fired for any reason – other than cause – within a year of a company changing hands.
Parag Agrawal, the CEO, who repeatedly clashed with Musk over the number of users Twitter has, was reported to be walking away from his job with $42 million, after being a chief executive officer for just under a year.
Twitter’s former top lawyer Vijaya Gadde, who earned $17 million in 2021, was reportedly in tears in April when Musk’s takeover first came to light. She was in line for a $12.5 million payout, Insider said.
Expect lawsuits because these folks are likely to throw a fit to try to get their severance packages. But they’re out and more will be following them.
Earlier in the week Nick Arama wrote describing on what Twitter had been pouring out money:
[T]hat the work environment was more like a spa, with a red wine on tap, not to mention that the employees thought that they could dictate demands to the new boss.
It is pointless to rehash how dictating demands may not have been the best way to present oneself to a new boss.
The following from slaynews.com.
After taking control of the company on Thursday, Musk was set to start culling employees over the weekend.
The New York Times reported:
Musk ordered the cuts across the company, with some teams to be trimmed more than others.
The report continued:
Some managers [were] being asked to draw up lists of employees to cut.
And what do you imagine is the likelihood that co-worker loyalty will be demonstrated above job security by any of the managers in question? Exactly. I expect a lot of checking-six to be occurring as well as a great deal of looking-out-for numero uno.
As noted above, the layoffs are reportedly set to begin immediately, before employees become eligible for stock grants as part of their compensation.
Final thoughts: Not to worry. I’m confident each of these laid-off employees will quickly find employment elsewhere, for example writing computer code or perhaps in the customer service sector. Afterall, Twitter has become well known for their employees’ ceaseless efforts to meet the demands of their ever-diverse customer base.
