[ad_1]

Twitter has laid off another 200 employees, around 10% of it’s remaining workforce, in the latest round of job cuts since Elon Musk took over last October.

The layoffs announced Saturday – originally reported to be 50 – bring Twitter’s workforce down to under 2,000, a sharp fall from the 7,500 employed when Musk took over in October.

On Sunday, Musk Tweeted: ‘Hope you have a good Sunday. First day of the rest of your life.’

Saturday’s cuts targeted product managers, data scientists and engineers and include product manager and Musk devotee Esther Crawford who led the launch of paid subscription service Twitter Blue.

Crawford famously backed Musk’s ‘extremely hardcore’ Twitter 2.0 culture when he first took over, and was pictured on the office floor in a sleeping bag with a sleeping mask in November 2022.

Twitter owner Elon Musk axed another 200 employees - roughly 10 percent of his remaining staff - from the social media platform at the weekend

Twitter owner Elon Musk axed another 200 employees – roughly 10 percent of his remaining staff – from the social media platform at the weekend

Product Manager Esther Crawford was seen sleeping on the office floor in November 2022

Product Manager Esther Crawford was seen sleeping on the office floor in November 2022

Musk shot off a tweet that some are saying is a cryptic nod toward those who were fired

Musk shot off a tweet that some are saying is a cryptic nod toward those who were fired

Twitter user Richard Heart responded to Musk’s post, saying: ‘Except for those where today is their last.’

The layoffs impacted the largest number of people at the company since half the company was laid off in November last year.

Employees discovered they were set to lose their jobs after they found themselves unable to log in to their emails and work computers. 

Musk told employees during a meeting in late November that no more plans for staff reductions were being made.

But staff suspected another wave of cuts was coming this month after they suddenly lost access to their Slack channel last week.

See also  Bindi Irwin and brother Robert are 'encouraging their mother Terri to try dating apps'

On Saturday night, some found they had been logged out of their emails and laptops.

The latest cuts primarily hit product managers including Crawford, as well as data scientists and engineers who worked on machine learning and site reliability, according to the New York Times.

Staff took to an anonymous platform for verified workers to detail the cuts as they unfolded at the weekend.

‘People receive email at 2am on Saturday and access cut immediately. This will go down as one of the most extreme layoff in entire corporate history,’ read a post on Blind.

The poster claimed layoffs hit the project management department the hardest and were spread across human relations, sales and marketing, engineering and finance.

Crawford, who before joining Twitter founded a small screen-sharing and video chat app called Squad, which Twitter acquired in 2020, was among those laid off.  

Haraldur Thorleifsson, who created the design studio Ueno, which the company bought in 2021, was also removed from his position at Twitter.

Martijn de Kuijper, a senior project manager, said he found out about lay off after being locked out of his email account. 

The dismissal of much of the product team has led some to speculate that Musk is preparing to bring in entirely new teams. 

Musk flagged changes in November to turn Twitter into a more hardcore work environment, warning staff they will need to be on board or leave the company. 

The billionaire has been shrewd and direct about the financial turmoil facing the company and made clear prior to his official acquisition that cost-cutting would be the number one priority.

Employees at the time were told they needed to sign a pledge to be able to stay on in their roles. Staff received an email that read: ‘If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below.’

It linked to an online form, in which Musk told employees that if they did not sign by 5pm Eastern time on Thursday they would get three months of severance pay.

Twitter corporate headquarters is seen in San Francisco, California on on November 04, 2022 - just as the period of chaotic layoffs began to unfold

Twitter corporate headquarters is seen in San Francisco, California on on November 04, 2022 – just as the period of chaotic layoffs began to unfold

Following that episode, the picture of Crawford laying on a brightly lit conference room floor went viral with the hashtag #SleepWhereYouWork attached.

Many online mocked her, saying sleeping at the office points to an obviously unhealthy relationship with work and that she would likely be fired within weeks anyhow. 

As news of her firing broke, Crawford expressed her feelings on the platform.

She wrote: ‘The worst take you could have from watching me go all-in on Twitter 2.0 is that my optimism or hard work was a mistake. 

‘Those who jeer & mock are necessarily on the sidelines and not in the arena. I’m deeply proud of the team for building through so much noise & chaos.’ 

Many Twitter users logged back on to congratulate those who had been correct about predicting Crawford’s demise at the company. 

See also  Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall 'are divorcing' after six years of marriage

In November, Twitter user moonpolysoft said: ‘Look, you’re gonna feel pretty silly about this once you get canned with 0 severance.’

User John Hamburger Jr replied yesterday to say: ‘This just happened’

TIMELINE OF ELON MUSK’S CHAOTIC ATTEMPT TO TAKEOVER TWITTER 

April 2: Musk announces that he owns 9.2 percent of the company, making him its largest single shareholder 

April 14: Musk offers to take Twitter private at $54.20 a share, valuing the company at $44billion 

April 25: Twitter accepts Musk’s offer

April 29: Musk sells $8billion in Tesla shares to finance deal 

May 13: Musk says Twitter deal is on hold pending a review of bot accounts

May 26: Musk is sued by Twitter for stock manipulation during takeover 

July 8:  Musk says he’s backing out of the deal. Twitter sues, trying to force him into seeing it through.

October 4: Musk proposes again to go ahead with the deal at the original price

October 17: Proposed trial date in Delaware

October 26: Musk visits Twitter HQ with a sink, updates his bio on the site to ‘Chief Twit’ and sets his location to Twitter HQ

October 27: Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter is finally completed

October 28: Musk fires top Twitter employees, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and top counsel Vijaya Gadde, the woman responsible for banning President Trump after the January 6 riots last year.

October 30: Twitter employees are told by Musk to make verified accounts a feature that’s exclusive to Twitter Blue, the platform’s paid subscription service

October 31: Musk confirms he’s the new CEO of Twitter and dissolves the board of directors

Early November: Half the company is fired

Late November: Musk assures the remaining staff that no more major layoffs are in the works

February 25: Another 200 staffers are unceremoniously fired



[ad_2]

Source link