Dismissal announced on Twitter for Friday – Every second job is said to be threatened

Twitter headquarters in San Francisco

The short message service employs around 7,500 people.

(Photo: dpa)

san francisco On Friday, mass layoffs are due to take place on the Twitter short message service. The Handelsblatt found out from corporate circles. In an internal email to the workforce, the company announced that affected employees would be informed on Friday at 9 a.m. local time in San Francisco (5 p.m. in Germany), as reported by US media such as The Verge, Reuters and the New York Times .

The email released by the media said: “In an effort to put Twitter on a healthy path, on Friday we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce.”

According to the reports, Twitter said in the email that the offices would be temporarily closed and access blocked for employees “to ensure the security of all employees as well as Twitter systems and customer data”.

Around half the workforce could be laid off on Friday, The Verge and New York Times reported in unison. Twitter recently had around 7,500 employees.

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Major corporations pause advertising on Twitter

The carmakers Audi and GM, as well as the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the US food company General Mills have paused their advertising on Twitter, the Bloomberg news agency reported.

“We have currently paused paid support on Twitter and will continue to review the situation,” an Audi spokesman was quoted as saying. There was initially no response from the company to a Handelsblatt inquiry.

IPG, an advertising holding company that represents big clients like Coca-Cola and American Express, has advised its clients to pause their Twitter ads for the next week, according to a report by Reuters news agency.

With the takeover, Musk had promised to create a good environment for advertisers. His goal is to make Twitter “the most respected advertising platform in the world”.

In 2019, Musk tweeted, “I hate advertisers.” Unlike other Musk companies such as electric car maker Tesla or rocket company SpaceX, Twitter relies heavily on advertising revenue. Last year, around 90 percent of Twitter revenue came from advertising revenue.

Advertising mogul Martin Sorrell, chairman of S4 Capital Plc, told Bloomberg that his company is advising clients to take a wait and see approach to the platform. “Customers don’t want conflict, they don’t want controversy,” Sorrell said. “They want a stable environment and what we’ve seen over the past few weeks is too much inconsistency.”

Twitter accounts for only about 1 percent of the world’s digital media, Sorrell said. But Twitter relies on advertising for the bulk of its revenue. Last week, Musk tweeted an open letter to marketers saying he wants to make Twitter “the most respected advertising platform in the world.”

More: Reader debate: This is how Handelsblatt readers look at the Twitter deal.

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