#OneTeam: Twitter employees show solidarity after mass layoffs under Musk ownership Read more
“People are going to have to make a lot more sacrifices to keep the lights on,” Musk said in October, shortly after he began taking a big hit in his stock price. “I see a lot of light turning green. I see a lot of people doing incredible work, and many of them are leaving, and that’s great. We’ll build that world.”
On Thursday, Twitter announced that it was cutting the number of senior engineers it would hire from 6,000 to 3,000 over the next year. The company also said it was laying off 4% of its global staff.
That news had people around Twitter on edge, and many questioned whether the company had the resources to manage the transition to a subscription-only service. Many employees have said that they feel “betrayed” by the company’s leadership, which has led them to leave, according to emails and phone calls we’ve received from employees that we plan to share with the Guardian.
One employee who has stayed on will be joining Twitter’s search team, according to a source close to the company. Another will be joining a new division focused on making ad targeting tools, a new tool that enables brands to target their own customers through ads, which could raise the profile of ad targeting. This employee has asked to remain anonymous.
“All of this has been done by a man who seems to have absolutely no sense of direction,” another former manager said of Slack’s chief executive and CEO. “He has no idea where he wants to take us, and it’s really tough because there are a lot of talented people who have not been given opportunities.”
The new structure at Twitter, according to a source close to the company, is being overseen by the company’s co-founder, CEO and co