Hundreds of Twitter employees have reportedly resigned after Elon Musk’s midnight email demanding “extremely hardcore” work culture and “long hours” to build Twitter 2.0.
This fresh wave of resignations comes days after Musk laid off around 3,700 Twitter employees after taking control of the social media giant in a $44 billion deal. At least a few others were then fired for criticising Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” on social media or on the company’s internal Slack channels.
On Wednesday, the billionaire sent a late-night email to the remaining staff, informing that he expected “long hours at high intensity” if they wanted to stay. Those who wished to continue at Twitter had a day (5 p.m. ET on Thursday) to decide, otherwise they would receive three months of severance.
After the deadline hit, hundreds of employees started posting farewell messages on Slack, The Verge reported. Many also announced their decision to leave on the microblogging platform.
A Twitter employee of nearly a decade posted a video which shows him with four other colleagues. The group counted down the seconds to Musk's deadline, saying they had all decided not to be part of the new Twitter.
It’s been a ride pic.twitter.com/0VDf5hn2UARelated stories
— Matt Miller (@brainiaq2000) November 17, 2022
And just like that, after 12 years, I have left Twitter. I have nothing but love for all my fellow tweeps, past and present. A thousand faces and a thousand scenes are flashing through my mind right now - I love you Twitter and I’ll forever bleed blue— Satanjeev Banerjee (@satanjeev) November 17, 2022
“It feels like all the people who made this place incredible are leaving,” one employee was quoted as saying by The Verge. “It will be extremely hard for Twitter to recover from here, no matter how hardcore the people who remain try to be.”
Several “critical” teams within Twitter have been laid off or have voluntarily resigned – a fact that remaining employees fear will put the future of the company itself in question. For example, a team that maintains Twitter’s core system libraries will be gone after Thursday. Every engineer at the company uses this. “You cannot run Twitter without this team,” the employee said.t
Three other Twitter employees spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity.
“Entire teams representing critical infrastructure are voluntarily departing the company, leaving the company at serious risk of being able to recover,” one engineer said. “We are skilled professionals with lots of options, so Elon has given us no reasons to stay and many to leave.”
It is not clear how many employees have left Twitter in this fresh exodus, but Elon Musk did not seem especially troubled by the development. "The best people are staying, so I'm not super worried," he tweeted.
The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
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