Elon Musk has given staff an ultimatum in a new email.Credit:AP
The billionaire has been unrelenting in rapidly transforming Twitter since completing his $US44 billion ($65 billion) acquisition of the company nearly three weeks ago. Muskswiftly slashed half of Twitter’s 7500-person workforce,dismissed thousands of contractors,fired employees who had criticised him and trimmed infrastructure costs. He has also proclaimed that Twitter needed to make more money orit faced bankruptcy. And he has pushed on subscription products and alternately wooing and insulting Twitter’s advertisers.
Giving remaining employees a deadline to leave has the dual effect of allowing Musk to further cut costs and purge the company of disgruntled workers. Musk has brought in a circle of confidants and employees from some of his other companies,such as the electric carmaker Tesla,to advise him at Twitter.
Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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In his note to Twitter employees on Wednesday,Musk said they would need to work hard — very hard. “In an increasingly competitive world,we will need to be extremely hardcore,” he wrote. “This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
Engineering would be the primary focus,Musk added,with design and product management taking a back seat. He included a link to an online form asking employees to confirm their interest in working at Twitter by 5pm Eastern time Thursday.
Many Twitter employees have openly balked at Musk’s leadership,and the company’s workforce could be further reduced if many workers accept the offer to leave. On Tuesday,Musk fired nearly two dozen workers who had been critical of his leadership in posts on Twitter or on the company’s internal messaging service,Slack.