Elon Musk’s Ultimatum to Twitter Staff Leads to Reported Exodus

On Wednesday Elon Musk reportedly despatched an ultimatum to Twitter’s workforce: Agree to work lengthy “hardcore” hours or depart the corporate. Employees had been made to answer “sure” to the choice to remain by 5 p.m. ET on Thursday or be let go together with 3 months of severance pay. Many, it seems, selected to depart.

Hundreds of Twitter workers resigned, in line with in line with the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and others, citing messages employees despatched to 1 one other on Slack. The exodus has left important programs right down to skeleton crews of 1 or two engineers, a former worker informed the Washington Post.

Around the identical time, the corporate’s remaining workers had been reportedly locked out of its headquarters, with Platformer’s Zoe Schiffer reporting Twitter’s buildings are closed and badge entry suspended till Nov. 21. Twitter, which now not seems to have a PR staff, did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

Read extra: Twitter-Musk News Timeline: Musk Locks Employees Out Of HQ Again Amid Mass Resignations

The information is the newest twist within the lengthy saga of Twitter beneath Musk’s management. Since taking the reigns as CEO on Oct. 27, Musk has laid off about half the 7,500 individual employees whereas demanding remaining ones work lengthy hours. He’s overseen the fast growth of recent options, like an replace to the Twitter Blue subscription that included account verification, which led to a rash of impersonations, together with of Musk himself.

Thursday’s information spawned recent concern amongst Twitter customers that the platform is within the remaining phases of a loss of life spiral that started when Musk purchased the corporate for $44 billion. #RIPTwitter, “Damn Twitter” and “Twitter HQ” turned the platform’s trending phrases following reviews of the exodus.

Among these responding to the turmoil is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic congresswoman from New York who just lately criticized Musk’s dealing with of Twitter. “Shoutout to all the employees at Twitter,” she wrote to her 13 million followers. “You all constructed a significant place for connection and deserved so significantly better.”

Musk even appeared to acknowledge the drama, posting a tweet that appeared to poke enjoyable at his earlier warning the corporate might quickly go bankrupt. “How do you make a small fortune in social media?” Musk tweeted on Thursday evening, three hours after his deadline to employees. “Start out with a big one.” 

The polarizing businessman’s tenure as Twitter chief might find yourself being non permanent. During testimony Wednesday over a Tesla shareholder case alleging that his wage as CEO is extreme, Musk additionally reportedly informed the courtroom, “I anticipate to scale back my time at Twitter and discover any individual else to run Twitter over time,” in line with CNBC.