‘You’re fired’: 3,700 Twitter employees are sent email terminating their employment
Chief Twit Elon Musk has fired off a blunt email to 3,700 Twitter workers telling them that they are fired – will remain on the payroll until at least January as he skirts California’s tough workers laws.
The world’s richest man rocked up at the Baron Investment Conference at the Metropolitan Opera House in Manhattan after posting a furious message to left-wing users who caused a ‘massive drop in revenue’ before the purge in staff hit their inboxes.
He said it was ‘extremely messed up’ and accused them of ‘trying to destroy free speech in America’ despite what he said were his best efforts to ‘appease’ the campaigners.
Twitter employees have started to receive the email to let them know whether they are among half the workforce set to be culled on Friday – at 4pm GMT, 12pm EST and 9am PST.
Those who were selected to stay have been informed that the office will remain closed until November 7th, and have been urged to ‘refrain from discussing confidential company information.’
Additionally they will be told of Musk’s ‘vision for the company’ in the coming days, with ‘more information’ to be shared next week.
Anyone who has found themselves out of a job has been told that they will continue to be employed by Twitter until either January or February 2 next year, depending on their role, though November 4 will be their last working day at the company.
They are not expected to work, and will have their access to Twitter systems deactivated – though some employees reported being kicked out of their accounts almost 12 hours before.
However the internal memo instructs staff leaving the company that they are still expected to comply with the employee playbook and code of conduct while they remain on gardening leave.
It added: ‘Within a week, you will receive details of your severance offer, financial resources extending beyond your Non-Working Notice period.
‘At that time you will also receive a Separation Agreement and Release of Claims and other offboarding.’
Musk laughed and was in good spirits ahead of the termination emails being sent out, while chatting on stage to Baron Capital Group Chairman and CEO Ron Baron
Musk, pictured leaving the investment conference, managed to wriggle around California law, which requires employers to give at least 60 days notice when firing people, by offering staff severance and to stay on the payroll until early next year
Those who were selected to stay have been informed that the office will remain closed until November 7th, and have been urged to ‘refrain from discussing confidential company information’
Workers took to the platform late Thursday and early Friday to vent their fury at the new CEO, with some trying to tell the billionaire businessman his actions were ‘no way to run a firm’
The company has reportedly fired 85 per cent of their employees in India and 90 per cent of those in Asia, with public relations and communications teams down to two people.
According to the Wall Street Journal some staff were told that they would have a separation date in January, rather than February.
They were also informed that they would receive one month’s base pay in severance approximately 45 days after the termination date, in addition to providing instructions for returning company property such as laptops.
It is unclear if employees should expect to receive their year-end bonuses, which historically have been based on individual and company performance.
An internal memo revealed last night the Tesla billionaire was set to sack 3,700 staff from the social media giant in a bid to slash costs by $1billion.
Workers took to the platform late Thursday and early Friday to vent their fury at the new CEO, with some trying to tell the billionaire businessman his actions were ‘no way to run a firm’.
But one shareholder broke cover to reveal his delight at the move, saying the company had been ‘grossly mismanaged’, was a ‘weapon for the Democrat party’ and Musk was ‘retooling for business’.
Nick Flor, a shareholder of the social media giant, claimed that their profit this year was a negative 270 million and praised the richest man in the world for the massive layoffs after his dramatic $44billion takeover.
Flor claims that the company was ‘grossly mismanaged’ before it was taken over by the billionaire and was ‘mainly used as a political weapon for the Democrat party.
He added: ‘That’s no way to run a BUSINESS.’
It was a response to a claim that Musk had launched an ‘all out war’ on his staff with ‘no formal notice’, with US staff filing a class-action lawsuit against their former employer.
Staff were seen outside the offices in New York on Friday morning looking weary and unsure, as some gathered after they tried to gain access to the building.
Musk looked relaxed as he attended a NYC investment conference after posting about his fury over activists bringing down the revenue of Twitter
Elon Musk arrives at the 29th Annual Baron Investment Conference in Manhattan, New York City, as Twitter shareholders back his decision to cut jobs
Nick Flor, a shareholder of the social media giant, claimed that their profit this year was a negative 270 million and praised the richest man in the world for the massive layoffs after his dramatic $44billion takeover
Twitter employees appeared to be speaking to security detail at the headquarters for the company in New York on Friday morning
Workers gathered outside of the office in New York, despite being told to go home on Thursday and ‘not to return’ to the office as they would be closed
Twitter had a global workforce of some 7,500 employees at the end of 2021, and Musk (pictured on Halloween) reportedly plans to lay off up to half of them
Musk blasted it as ‘extremely messed up’, before claiming that he and his new team did ‘everything they could’ to ‘appease the activists’
The company said its offices will be temporarily sealed and all staff badge access will be suspended in order ‘to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data’
Musk has given some employees 91 days notice of his intention to end their contracts, after the email for an email with the subject ‘Your Role at Twitter’ to drop into their inboxes today.
Staff in London and Manchester received the news in the same way, at 4pm local time in the UK, with many finding themselves locked out of their accounts when they woke up.
Members of staff reported being logged out of their work accounts and locked out of laptops while the company sealed offices for all of its employees.
Sacked workers are suing Musk for not giving enough notice of the mass job cuts – though the lawsuit was launched before he sent the full details to the employees.
Some posted sentimental messages to the platform after being told they were to be unemployed.
Offices in the UK and US were shut down for the day by Musk, who warned employees that their buildings would be locked and all staff badge access will be suspended in order ‘to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data.’
As part of his plan to drive down costs at the company the world’s richest man announced the cuts internally with an email, as employees banded together on internal channels to say goodbye.
Workers said the company eliminating workers without enough notice is in violation of federal and California law citing a class-action lawsuit filed in a San Francisco federal court.
The class action lawsuit filed on Thursday alleged that Twitter is in violation of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act after some employees were already laid off.
It requires and employer with more than 100 employees to provide 60 days’ advance written notice prior to a mass layoff ‘affecting 50 or more employees at a single site of employment’.
But Musk has seemingly got around the issue, by allowing workers to remain on the books until February 2 – which is in 91 days time.
He also confirmed that the company would be in contact with those who have been sacked to discuss their severance pay.
The class-action lawsuit was filed by Shannon Liss-Riordan, who sued Musk’s electric car company Tesla Inc. over similar claims in June, when it laid off around 10 percent of its workforce.
She said: ‘We filed this lawsuit tonight in an attempt the make sure that employees are aware that they should not sign away their rights and that they have an avenue for pursuing their rights.’
Elon Musk has slammed activist groups for ‘pressuring’ advertisers claiming that they are behind Twitter’s ‘massive drop in revenue’
A picture of Ester Crawford asleep at the California offices on November 2 was posted on social media, with the early stage products worker writing: ‘When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you sleep where you work’
Musk is appearing to ignore the mass layoffs on his Twitter page, but has been active in the past few hours following the news breaking
Twitter (pictured: Its office in San Francisco) said its offices will be temporarily closed and all staff badge access will be suspended in order ‘to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data.’
Staff who have been laid off will be notified of the next steps in a message to their personal email addresses with the subject line ‘Your Role at Twitter’, the memo said. Pictured: Library image of Twitter’s offices in New York
Simon Balmain, whose Twitter profile said he was a ‘former Senior Community Manager’ at the company, wrote: ‘Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack. #OneTeam forever. Loved you all so much. So sad it had to end this way.’
‘Honestly happy to be laid off but the veil of @elonmusk is pierced,’ the user by the name of Kushal Dave wrote on the platform. ‘As messy as Twitter was pre-elon, it is a veritable clowntown of politics and toadyism and psychological abuse now. Afraid to get in my Tesla with what I learned this week.’
Head of Safety and Integrity Yoel Roth posted his condolences to those who had been laid off – and is currently the only executive member of Twitter staff to publicly acknowledge the layoffs
As the layoffs began, sacked Twitter employees posted on the platform under the ‘#OneTeam’ hashtag about their final hours at the company, expressing a mixture of anger and sadness, and gratitude for their time working there.
Simon Balmain, whose Twitter profile said he was a ‘former Senior Community Manager’ at the company, wrote: ‘Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack. #OneTeam forever. Loved you all so much. So sad it had to end this way.’
He said he received an email saying there would be mass layoffs, ‘and then around an hour later, folks started getting their laptops remotely wiped and access to Slack and Gmail revoked.’
Another user named Johann told his followers: ‘Heya I just lost access to all my Twitter logins so I guess that’s it.’
Another by the name of Miryam wrote: ‘Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.’ She wrote the message along-side a picture of her posing in front of a large blue Twitter bird mounted on a wall at the offices.
Karen Zapata, another employee, posted a picture of her laptop screen, having been locked out. ‘This gray screen could have been a meeting,’ she wrote – suggesting she was unhappy with how impersonal the sacking was.
One Twitter employee shared a selfie of her and two other colleagues in an elevator which she wrote was at Twitter’s New York City offices. ‘Last teary eyed @TwitterNYC elevator selfie,’ she wrote. The employee, named Rena, also posted that she had been ‘logged out’ of the Twitter Slack channels and her email account.
Rumman Chowdhury, another employee, shared a screenshot showing she had been locked out of her emails. Several other users reported experiencing the same black-out.
Some wrote how Twitter employees spent their final hours talking on the company’s Slack (an internal business instant messaging app), sharing memories while waiting to hear whether they would lose their jobs or not.
Head of Safety and Integrity Yoel Roth posted his condolences to those who had been laid off – and is currently the only executive member of Twitter staff to publicly acknowledge the layoffs.
He said: ‘Tweeps: My DMs are always open to you. Tell me how I can help.’
Kushal Dave is one of the only employees to say that he is ‘happy’ to be laid off, but was quick to slam Musk for the way he conducted his takeover – calling him ‘Voldemort’.
He said: ‘Honestly happy to be laid off but the veil of Elon Musk is pierced. As messy as Twitter was pre-Elon, it is a veritable clowntown of politics and toadyism and psychological abuse now.
‘Afraid to get in my Tesla with what I learned this week. And extremely p***** for the people who were on the wrong side of Elon’s court intrigue.
Kushal Dave is one of the only employees to say that he is ‘happy’ to be laid off, but was quick to slam Musk for the way he conducted his takeover – calling him ‘Voldemort’
Chris Younie, who works for Twitter in entertainment partnerships, tweeted: ‘Well this isn’t looking promising. Can’t log into emails. Mac won’t turn on. But so grateful this is happening at 3am. Really appreciate the thoughtfulness on the timing front guys…’
Joan Deitchman, a senior engineer manager, confirmed that her entire team had been sacked by Musk, and were unable to access any of their work
‘This isn’t a game. Also just bad decision making as a business owner.’
Twitter had a global workforce of some 7,500 employees at the end of 2021.
Musk started his cull last week when he took over the company by firing former CEO Parag Agarwal as well as top finance and legal executives.
Others, including those sitting atop the company’s advertising, marketing, and human resources divisions, departed throughout the past week.
The company said its offices will be temporarily sealed and all staff badge access will be suspended in order ‘to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data.’
Staff reported access to their email and other communication software – such as Slack – had been cut, with little or no warning. They also reported being remotely logged out of laptops, which were wiped of data.
Employees in London reported losing access overnight, finding they were unable to log in on Friday morning.
Workers in the UK have been joining trade unions in an effort to protect their employment rights after the mass cuts were announced.
Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, a UK-based trade union said it has seen an influx of sign-ups from Twitter employees over the last week.
Clancy called on the UK government to ensure that Twitter doesn’t become a ‘digital P&O,’ referring to the ferry company that cut 800 jobs in March.
He said: ‘Twitter is treating its people appallingly. We are supporting our members at Twitter and will be working with them to defend them and their livelihoods.’
Prior to buying Twitter, Musk tweeted that the company under his ownership ‘will be super focused on hardcore software engineering, design, infosec & server hardware.’
Last week he lamented in a tweet that ‘there seem to be 10 people ‘managing’ for every one person coding.’
The layoffs, which were long expected, have chilled Twitter’s famously open corporate culture that has been revered by its employees.
Shortly after the email landed in Twitter employee inboxes, hundreds of people flooded the company’s Slack channels to say goodbye, two employees told Reuters. Someone invited Musk to join the channel, the sources said.
In an email, staff were told to ‘return home’ if they were in an office or on their way to go to work.
It stated: ‘In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday.
‘We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward.’
The email concluded acknowledging that it will be ‘an incredibly challenging experience to go through’ for the workforce.
Staff at Twitter’s offices in Australia received the email at 1am on Saturday telling them whether or not they have been sacked.
British staff were asleep when their laptops were ‘remotely wiped’ and their access to Slack and Gmail revoked, according to one staffer.
Thousands of workers, who are describing themselves as ‘ex-Tweeps’ have taken to social media to share their thoughts on the sackings.
Yash Agarwal, 25, posted a picture of himself at the twitter offices, adding: ‘Just got laid off. Bird App, it was an absolute honour, the greatest privilege ever to be a part of this team, this culture.’
Rachel Bonn posted a picture of her last day in the San Francisco office, saying: ‘Last Thursday in the SF office, really the last day Twitter was Twitter.
‘8 months pregnant and have a 9-month-old. Just got cut off from laptop access.’
The notification of layoffs caps off a week of high-level purges by Musk, as he demanded deep cost cuts and imposed an aggressive new work ethic across the social media company.
Musk wavered throughout his attempt to buy Twitter on how many positions he would eliminate, originally saying as many as 75 percent of the company’s workers (5,625) would be cut, before some reports suggested it would actually be 25 percent (1,875).
The 3,700 cuts amount to about half the staff, and would see them follow out five high-level executives who have resigned in the past week.
The layoffs, which were long expected, have chilled Twitter’s famously open corporate culture that has been revered by its employees.
Musk’s first week as Twitter’s owner has been marked by chaos and uncertainty. Two company-wide meetings were scheduled, only to be canceled mere hours later.
Managers have been forbidden from calling team meetings or communicating directly with staff, one senior Twitter employee said, adding that they were being monitored.
‘It feels like we’re working among the Gestapo,’ the person said.
Musk has installed a group of his loyalist friends in the days after removing the top executives at Twitter, surrounding himself with his trusted inner circle.
He put his personal lawyer and tech investors David Sacks and Jason Calacanis into the company, though it is not clear exactly what their roles will be going forward.
Alex Spiro, a trial attorney, is also part of the team and is understood to have led the first round of Twitter layoffs of the CEO and CFO.
The inner circle is then completed with investor Sriram Krishnan, a former Twitter product leader, and Jared Birchall who heads up Musk’s family office.
Musk has also directed Twitter Inc’s teams to find up to $1bn in annual infrastructure cost savings, according to two sources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message.
Even as Musk cuts costs, he faces threats to Twitter’s revenue as a growing number of companies pause their advertising on the platform over concerns about whether it will remain ‘safe’ for brands.
‘We have currently paused paid support on Twitter and will continue to evaluate the situation,’ an Audi spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Thursday, one week after the completion of Musk’s $44 billion buyout.
Likewise, a spokesperson for General Mills, which also makes Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, and Häagen-Dazs, confirmed a pause, saying: ‘We will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend.’
Carmakers appear especially worried about fair treatment under Musk, who is the CEO of rival Tesla, and last week General Motors announced it had ‘temporarily paused’ all paid advertising on Twitter.
As well, Oreo-maker Mondelez International and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have both paused their Twitter ad spending, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter.
Shortly after the email landed in Twitter employee inboxes, hundreds of people flooded the company’s Slack channels to say goodbye. Twitter workers are seen above
Billionaire Elon Musk carries a sink into Twitter’s head office in San Francisco as he buys the social media company
Carmaker Audi and General Mills, the packaged-food titan behind Cheerios, have joined a growing list of companies halting their ad spending on Twitter under Elon Musk’s ownership
General Mills, which makes Cheerios, Pillsbury and Häagen-Dazs, confirmed a pause, saying: ‘We will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend’
Spokespersons for Mondelez and Pfizer did not immediately respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Thursday evening.
Twitter has stopped responding to all press inquiries, except for the few that Musk answers by tweet.
Musk last week promised advertisers he would keep Twitter from turning into a ‘free-for-all hellscape’ and is now scrambling to convince advertisers that he will uphold the commitment.
Some advertisers have reportedly vowed to boycott Twitter for good if former president Donald Trump is allowed to return. Musk said on Wednesday it would be several weeks before a process is in place to reinstate banned accounts.
A media buyer at one major ad agency, who declined to be named for fear of reprisal, said the agency would meet with Musk this week to ask how the Tesla boss plans to handle misinformation on the social media platform.
The buyer also wanted to know how Musk’s pledge squared with his own actions, including one tweet over the weekend that spread a baseless conspiracy theory about the attack against US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul.
Other topics include Musk’s plan to raise the cost of Twitter’s subscription service and serve ‘half as many ads,’ and who will serve as advertisers’ point of contact after a procession of senior executives, including Twitter’s ad chief, left the company since he took over.
The ad agencies’ top clients are expected to join the meeting, the media buyer said.
After tweeting in 2019 about his dislike of advertising, Musk is now under pressure to avoid alienating the advertisers who contribute more than 90 percent of Twitter’s revenue.
He is spending his first week as CEO in New York, with venture capitalist friends joining him in meetings to reassure companies that contribute more than $5 billion annually to Twitter.
Jason Calacanis, an angel investor and podcast host who is assisting Musk in his first week of ownership, tweeted on Monday that Twitter had a ‘very productive day’ of meetings with advertisers and marketers.
Another media buyer who spoke with Reuters said their agency will not meet with Musk until he articulates a direction for Twitter or provides a substantive update on how the platform will serve advertisers.
Some clients have already begun to pause ad spending on Twitter this week, said the second media buyer, who declined to name the advertisers as the source was not authorized to do so.
The buyer said some clients had already pulled out of Twitter due to the months-long chaos around the deal, and some in response to concerns about child sexual abuse material on Twitter.
IPG, an advertising holding company that represents major clients including Coca-Cola and American Express, has advised clients to pause their Twitter ads for the next week, according to a person familiar with the matter.
‘We have currently paused paid support on Twitter and will continue to evaluate the situation,’ an Audi spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Thursday
Oreo-maker Mondelez International has also reportedly paused Twitter ad spending
Jason Calacanis, who is assisting Musk in his first week of ownership, tweeted on Monday that Twitter had a ‘very productive day’ of meetings with advertisers
Musk took to Twitter on Wednesday night with a poll asking users whether advertisers should support freedom of speech or ‘political correctness’
Even as Musk took meetings with major agencies and advertisers this week, he took to Twitter on Wednesday night with a poll asking users whether advertisers should support freedom of speech or ‘political correctness.’
Of more than two million votes, nearly 80 percent answered ‘freedom of speech.’
‘Those type of provocations are not helping to calm the waters,’ the media buyer said.
More marketers also took to LinkedIn to voice their concerns about Musk’s takeover of the platform.
‘Unless Elon hires new leaders committed to keeping this ‘free’ platform safe from hate speech, it’s not a platform brands can/should advertise on,’ said Allie Wassum, global director of social and integrated media for Jordan shoe brand, which is owned by Nike, in a post on Linkedin.
Wassum did not respond to a request for further comment.
In addition to cutting Twitter staff, another idea Musk has pitched is a charge for the platform’s iconic blue tick – the mark used to identify verified users – claiming the move will end the current ‘lords and peasants’ system.
The ‘badges’ could go live as soon as Monday, Bloomberg reported, with current blue check holders receiving a ‘grace period’ of multiple months before being forced to either pay or lose the badge, which is as a verification mark for high-profile users.
Musk’s touted move has been criticised by some, who say key users of the platform create the content that gives it value. Others have said previous attempts by companies to monetise something previously free have seldom been successful.
He originally suggested $20 a month for verification but appeared to lower the cost after an exchange earlier this week with horror writer Stephen King, where he offered him a discount.
The billionaire is looking to make good on his promise to make the social media platform turn a profit by introducing a charge for Twitter users wanting to keep their verification badge.
Musk suggested publishers who are ‘willing to work’ with Twitter will get a ‘paywall bypass’ and social media stars will also be getting a secondary heading like politicians. Content creators will also get rewarded through a revenue stream.
‘You get what you pay for,’ the father-of-eight tweeted on Wednesday. He also celebrated ‘being attacked by both the right and left simultaneously,’ calling it a ‘good sign.’
But in a sign that the price might not be a done deal, Musk responded to a tweet from the author of The Shining complaining about the new charge.
‘$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me,’ wrote King, who has 6.9 million followers. ‘If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.’
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