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Topline
Twitter has laid off more than 200 staffers including some top executives who had risen up the ranks after Elon Musk’s takeover of the company, various news outlets reported, a move that comes weeks after the social media company’s billionaire owner and CEO said he was working to “stabilize the organization.”
A view of Twitter’s logo at Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco, California, United States.
Anadolu Agency
Key Facts
According to the New York Times, the layoffs have impacted 10% of Twitter’s remaining workforce of 2,000 people, with many learning that they had been laid off after losing access to their company email accounts and laptops.
The layoffs reportedly began on Saturday night with many learning about their fate on Sunday.
Twitter Blue head Esther Crawford—who had previously defended the company’s new work culture under Musk and vowed to go “all-in”—also faced the axe, the Platformer’s Zoe Schiffer reported.
Crawford the founder of the screen-sharing app Squad joined Twitter after her company was acquired by the social media giant in late 2020.
Newsletter platform Revue founder, Martin de Kujiper, and design firm Ueno’s founder Haraldur Thorleifsson—both of whose companies were acquired by Twitter in 2021—were also among those laid off on Sunday.
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Crucial Quote
Crawford tweeted about her exit on Sunday evening saying: “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…I’m deeply proud of the team for building through so much noise & chaos.”
What To Watch For
The reason behind the most recent layoffs is unclear as after the last major purge Musk had told employees there would be no more layoffs and the company was now looking to hire. Despite that promise, intermittent layoffs have continued at Twitter. The Verge’s Alex Heath, citing ex-Twitter employees, reported that Sunday’s cuts may be a prelude to Musk installing a “whole new regime” at Twitter. He added that Twitter has less than a dozen people “left working on the consumer product and design.”
Key Background
Since Musk’s take over of the company in October last year Twitter aggressively slashed its headcount from around 7,500 employees across the world down to around 1,800 now. The cuts began in November with the company cutting 3,700 or 50% of its workforce including most of its top executives. This was followed by another large-scale exit of workers after many of them refused to sign Musk’s ultimatum calling on them to sign on to a “hardcore” work culture. Earlier this month, Musk said he is working to “stabilize the organization” and ensure it is financially healthy and he plans to hand off CEO duties once this is achieved. The scale and rapid pace of Musk’s cuts appear to have had a major impact on Twitter’s product as users have complained about multiple glitches and and even a full scale outages.
Further Reading
In Latest Round of Job Cuts, Twitter Is Said to Lay Off at Least 200 Employees (New York Times)
Twitter Blue head Esther Crawford is out at Twitter (The Verge)
Musk Says He Wants To ‘Stabilize’ Twitter Before Finding A New CEO By The End Of 2023 (Forbes)
