Twitter staff react to Elon Musk’s takeover: ‘I am fully expecting him to fire 69% of us on Friday at 4:20 p.m.’
Elon Musk #ElonMusk
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Twitter employees have taken to their own app to express concerns about their livelihoods and show solidarity after Elon Musk finally sealed his $44 billion takeover deal.
On Thursday evening, one Twitter software engineer tweeted: “The man brought a sink, I am fully expecting him to fire 69% of us on Friday at 4:20pm.”
On Wednesday, Musk made a dramatic entrance to Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters carrying a sink before chatting with staff at the office coffee shop, The Perch. He’s previously displayed a penchant for meme-friendly numbers: In 2018, he tweeted that he was considering privatizing Tesla at $420-a-share, and in 2020, joked he’d drop the price of a Model S to $69,420.
The billionaire, who’s the world’s richest person, has fired at least four top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, Insider and others reported Thursday. According to The Washington Post, Musk planned to lay off nearly 75% of Twitter’s 7,500-strong workforce, but he’s denied that report.
Another Twitter software engineer was more direct with their criticism, saying: “Hope you enjoyed your coffee at The Perch! Just one question: was it fun to look at the faces of the people you said you’d be laying off?”
It was during this hour-long coffee meeting with about 40 Twitter employees that Musk denied the 75% layoffs figure, according to Bloomberg.
Other Twitter staffers were creative with their criticism, with one sharing a cartoon lampooning Agrawal’s reported $38.7 million severance payout. “Has anybody seen Parag?” the illustration reads, as a cartoon Agrawal reaches for a golden parachute to escape a Twitter-branded plane.
The reported firing of Vijaya Gadde, legal and policy head, and general counsel, Sean Edgett, also prompted concern in the ranks. Several employees retweeted Techdirt editor Mike Masnick, who said that “Twitter is less of a free speech platform” without Gadde.
Lara Cohen, vice president of marketing, said “I love my colleagues so much,” while staffer Tina Le tweeted “stay strong Tweeps” with a heart emoji. Other Twitter employees used the #OneTeam hashtag to express solidarity.