The tech group could face mass layoffs.
(Photo: AP)
san francisco After taking over the short message service Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk announced a number of changes. Musk announced that blocked accounts should be unlocked again. “Anyone banned for minor and dubious reasons will be released from Twitter jail,” the entrepreneur said.
The Handelsblatt learned from industry circles that mass layoffs could be pending on Twitter. One employee reported that there was hardly any internal communication at the weekend, but that layoffs are expected to be imminent within the workforce.
The New York Times reported, citing four informed sources, that numerous layoffs are expected to be announced before November 1st. The background is that stock options, which are normally an important salary component, must be allocated on the key date. With this step, Musk and his team could try to avoid the payment, the newspaper reported.
However, Elon Musk contradicted the statement on Sunday that layoffs were planned before the deadline. “This is wrong,” he wrote on Twitter without giving any further details.
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Ross Gerber, chief executive of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, told the New York Times that he was told by Jared Birchall, who heads Musk’s family office, that Twitter would be layoffs. “I was told that about 50 percent of the employees should be laid off,” he said. At the end of last year, Twitter had 7,500 employees.
Trump rules out return
Musk had already fired top executives at the company, including CEO Parag Agrawal. The purchase agreement actually provided for severance payments in the event of layoffs in the management team. However, according to the New York Times, Musk was attempting to choose a path that would leave executives ineligible for severance pay.
Musk publicly announced that he wants to create a new body to deal with controversial content. Before such a council meets, there will be no major decisions on content policy or account recovery, he wrote at Twitter.
In the future, the way could also be clear for former President Donald Trump to return to the platform. Trump himself reiterated over the weekend that he would not return to Twitter, even if it were possible. Instead, he will stay with Truth Social, Trump told Fox News. “I like it better here,” he explained. “I like Elon, but I’m sticking with Truth.”
At the same time he restricted: “I don’t think Twitter can be successful without me.” In fact, things hadn’t gone any worse for Twitter after his ban. Musk had criticized Trump’s permanent ban in May as “morally wrong and just plain stupid”. He also announced that he would generally abolish “lifetime” bans on users.
On Sunday, Musk shared a purely speculative conspiracy theory about the attack on politician husband Paul Pelosi with his 112 million followers. The 82-year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked at the couple’s home and hit in the head with a hammer.
The conspiracy theory Musk retweeted baselessly suggested that Pelosi may have gotten into an argument with a man he let in himself. The police clearly speak of a burglary. The tweet was deleted a few hours later.
Reports: Verification could become chargeable
The payment model on Twitter could also change soon. Two influential US industry services reported that Musk had his teams working on charging verified accounts in the future over the weekend. The technology blog “Platformer” and the medium “The Verge” reported that the verification ticks should in future only be available for customers of the Twitter Blue subscription offer. It currently costs $4.99 a month.
However, “The Verge” also wrote, citing informed people and internal communication, that the verification should be part of a new, more expensive Blue version. Twitter wants to charge $19.99 a month for this. Software developers were given a deadline of November 7th to start the function – or they would be fired. Musk himself only wrote on Twitter on Sunday that the verification process is currently being revised.
Musk paid around $44 billion to acquire Twitter. The money came partly from sales of his shares in electric car maker Tesla – but also from contributions from investors and loans that have to be serviced. Twitter was recently in the red.
With agency material
More: “Someone is going to die” – Pelosi attack raises fears of further attacks.