Twitter is going to face difficult months. The social network, in the process of being bought by Elon Musk, will most likely have to cut its workforce severely in the coming weeks. If the Tesla co-founder ends up getting his hands on the platform, around 75% of the staff could walk out, according to information obtained by the washington post.
Cuts in HR budget and infrastructure
Documents obtained by the English-language newspaper indeed detail Musk’s plan of attack once the takeover of Twitter is validated – which could happen as early as the end of October 2022, says the washington post. Of the 7,500-plus people working for Twitter, only 2,000 would keep their jobs once Musk’s plan was realized. The teams in charge of moderating the social network could be among the most affected by these waves of dismissals. Indeed, Musk has always said he wants to make Twitter a haven of American-style freedom of expression, that is to say where it is allowed to say almost everything. Under these conditions, there is no longer any real need for a strict framework for speech, except for manifestly illegal content (child pornography, for example).
And the budget cuts wouldn’t stop there under Musk’s rule. The infrastructure, which allows the platform to accommodate more than 200 million daily connections, would also be subject to a strict regime. Not enough to reassure when you know that with the means currently employed, Twitter is already struggling to respect the most basic rules of cybersecurity.
Twitter was already planning layoffs
Even if Musk ends up definitively throwing in the towel and not buying Twitter – which seems increasingly unlikely – the social network would have to part with part of its lifeblood anyway. Before the takeover offer from the South African billionaire, the company was already considering parting with 25% of its payroll in an attempt to be more profitable. Elon Musk’s proposal therefore came at the right time since the sum promised by the businessman was far superior to the stock market valuation of the company and avoided the leaders having to announce the bad news themselves.
The news of the mass layoffs was obviously not well received within the ranks of the company. Already largely demoralized by the crises of recent months, the teams reacted to the news by venting their anger and resignation on the company’s internal chat. It must be said that the prospect of making Twitter profitable with great blows of layoffs and budget cuts is not the most encouraging and Musk’s speech on the “meritocratic” management that he wants to put in place is not enough. reassure either.