Elon Musk’s Twitter Cuts More Jobs as Platform Seeks to Slash Costs
Twitter Inc. conducted another round of job cuts over the weekend, people familiar with the matter said, the latest among thousands of staff reductions under new owner
Elon Musk.
The cuts come as billionaire Mr. Musk has been pursuing sweeping changes to the platform, including slashing costs, releasing new features and changing content-moderation policies.
An email sent to an employee, dated Saturday, said the person’s role was eliminated as part of a wider review, according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Today is your last working day at the company,” the email said.
“Waking up to find I’ve been locked out of my email,” tweeted Martijn de Kuijper, a senior product manager at Twitter and founder of newsletter tool Revue, which was acquired by Twitter in 2021.
“Looks like I’m let go. Now my Revue journey is really over.” He added a “saluting face” emoji, which has been used by employees as a symbol of the end of the pre-Musk version of the company. Twitter shut down Revue last month.
The exact scope of the cuts couldn’t be learned, and Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Information earlier reported the job cuts.
Mr. Musk has been cutting jobs and other costs at the social-media company, which had a track record of losing money, since he acquired Twitter in late October in a deal valued at $44 billion. A week after Mr. Musk completed the takeover, roughly 50% of the staff was laid off in the first round of layoffs. More layoffs followed. Resignations also have contributed to shrinking staff numbers.
Mr. Musk said in December that Twitter had a little over 2,000 employees, compared with nearly 8,000 from before his takeover.
Mr. Musk said in November that layoffs were necessary because Twitter was losing more than $4 million a day. Around that time, many large advertisers paused spending on the platform.
Tech Layoffs Across the Industry: Amazon, Salesforce and More Cut Staff
Mr. Musk tweeted that fleeing advertisers caused a “massive drop in revenue” and accused activist groups of pressuring advertisers.
Twitter has been wooing advertisers who left the platform because of uncertainty over his content-moderation and staffing plans.
Twitter hasn’t reported its financial details publicly since going private. “Twitter still has challenges, but is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it,” Mr. Musk tweeted earlier this month.
The company has also rolled out new features and product tweaks, including the new Twitter Blue subscription service; a new version of the algorithmic-based feed, rebranded with the TikTok-esque name “For You”; and view counts.
Mr. Musk said in December he expects Twitter will be roughly cash-flow break-even in 2023. He suggested then that Twitter was on track to bring in about $3 billion in revenue in 2023. That is roughly $2 billion less than Twitter’s $5.1 billion revenue in 2021, the last full year it publicly reported earnings.
Write to Alexa Corse at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the February 27, 2023, print edition as ‘Twitter Cuts More Jobs, Seeking to Slash Costs.’
Twitter Inc. conducted another round of job cuts over the weekend, people familiar with the matter said, the latest among thousands of staff reductions under new owner
Elon Musk.
The cuts come as billionaire Mr. Musk has been pursuing sweeping changes to the platform, including slashing costs, releasing new features and changing content-moderation policies.
An email sent to an employee, dated Saturday, said the person’s role was eliminated as part of a wider review, according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Today is your last working day at the company,” the email said.
“Waking up to find I’ve been locked out of my email,” tweeted Martijn de Kuijper, a senior product manager at Twitter and founder of newsletter tool Revue, which was acquired by Twitter in 2021.
“Looks like I’m let go. Now my Revue journey is really over.” He added a “saluting face” emoji, which has been used by employees as a symbol of the end of the pre-Musk version of the company. Twitter shut down Revue last month.
The exact scope of the cuts couldn’t be learned, and Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Information earlier reported the job cuts.
Mr. Musk has been cutting jobs and other costs at the social-media company, which had a track record of losing money, since he acquired Twitter in late October in a deal valued at $44 billion. A week after Mr. Musk completed the takeover, roughly 50% of the staff was laid off in the first round of layoffs. More layoffs followed. Resignations also have contributed to shrinking staff numbers.
Mr. Musk said in December that Twitter had a little over 2,000 employees, compared with nearly 8,000 from before his takeover.
Mr. Musk said in November that layoffs were necessary because Twitter was losing more than $4 million a day. Around that time, many large advertisers paused spending on the platform.
Tech Layoffs Across the Industry: Amazon, Salesforce and More Cut Staff
Mr. Musk tweeted that fleeing advertisers caused a “massive drop in revenue” and accused activist groups of pressuring advertisers.
Twitter has been wooing advertisers who left the platform because of uncertainty over his content-moderation and staffing plans.
Twitter hasn’t reported its financial details publicly since going private. “Twitter still has challenges, but is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it,” Mr. Musk tweeted earlier this month.
The company has also rolled out new features and product tweaks, including the new Twitter Blue subscription service; a new version of the algorithmic-based feed, rebranded with the TikTok-esque name “For You”; and view counts.
Mr. Musk said in December he expects Twitter will be roughly cash-flow break-even in 2023. He suggested then that Twitter was on track to bring in about $3 billion in revenue in 2023. That is roughly $2 billion less than Twitter’s $5.1 billion revenue in 2021, the last full year it publicly reported earnings.
Write to Alexa Corse at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the February 27, 2023, print edition as ‘Twitter Cuts More Jobs, Seeking to Slash Costs.’
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