Twitter will tell employees by email today (Friday) about whether they have been laid off, temporarily closing its offices and preventing staff access, following a week of uncertainty about the company's future under new owner Elon Musk.
The social media company said in an email to staff that it will alert employees by 9 a.m. Pacific time on Friday (12 p.m. EDT/1600 GMT) about staff cuts.
"In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday," said the email sent on Thursday, seen by Reuters.
Twitter said its offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended in order "to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data."
The social media platform said Twitter employees who are not affected by the layoffs will be notified via their work email addresses.
Twitter will tell employees by email on Friday about whether they have been laid off, temporarily closing its offices and preventing staff access, following a week of uncertainty about the company's future under new owner Elon Musk.
The social media company said in an email to staff that it will alert employees by 9 a.m. Pacific time on Friday (12 p.m. EDT/1600 GMT) about staff cuts.
"In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday," said the email sent on Thursday, seen by Reuters.
Twitter said its offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended in order "to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data."
The social media platform said Twitter employees who are not affected by the layoffs will be notified via their work email addresses.
Staff who have been laid off will be notified with next steps to their personal email addresses, the memo said.
Some employees tweeted their access to the company's IT system has been already blocked and feared whether that suggested their layoffs.
"Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack," tweeted a user with the @SBkcrn account whose profile is described as former senior community manager at Twitter.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The notification of layoffs caps off a week of purges by Musk as he demanded deep cost cuts and imposed an aggressive new work ethic across the social media company.
He has directed Twitter's teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings, according to two sources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters.
He had already cleared out the company's senior ranks, firing its chief executive and top finance and legal executives. Others, including those sitting atop the company's advertising, marketing and human resources divisions, departed throughout the past week.
Musk's first week as Twitter's owner has been marked by chaos and uncertainty. Two company-wide meetings were scheduled, only to be canceled mere hours later. Employees told Reuters they were left to piece together information through media reports, private messaging groups and anonymous forums.
The layoffs, which were long expected, have chilled Twitter's famously open corporate culture that has been revered by its employees.
"If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home," Twitter said in the email on Thursday.
Shortly after the email landed in Twitter employee inboxes, hundreds of people flooded the company's Slack channels to say goodbye, two employees told Reuters. Someone invited Musk to join the channel, the sources said.
Earlier Musk has directed Twitter Inc's teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings, according to two sources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters, raising concerns that Twitter could go down during high-traffic events like the U.S. midterm elections.
The company is aiming to find between $1.5 million and $3 million a day in savings from servers and cloud services, said the Slack message, which referred to the project as "Deep Cuts Plan."
Twitter is currently losing about $3 million a day "with all spending and revenue considered," according to an internal document reviewed by Reuters.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The steep infrastructure cuts could put the Twitter website and app at risk of going down during critical events when users are rushing to Twitter to consume and share information, such as during moments of crisis or major political events, the sources said.
"(Musk) is willing to introduce that risk to meet these goals," the person said.
The second source described the proposed cuts as "delusional," adding that when user traffic kicks up, the service can fail "in spectacular ways."
Teams across Twitter are racing to present a plan to achieve the cost savings by a Nov. 7 deadline, according to one of the sources and the Slack message. Some employees have been ordered to work in the office every day of the week to meet the deadline, the source said.
Cost cuts could also come from reduced spending on Google Cloud services, the source said. A spokesperson for Google Cloud to declined to comment.
Meanwhile, some employees tweeted their access to the company's IT system has been already blocked and feared whether that suggested their layoffs.
"Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack," tweeted a user with the @SBkcrn account whose profile is described as former senior community manager at Twitter.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The notification of layoffs caps off a week of purges by Musk as he demanded deep cost cuts and imposed an aggressive new work ethic across the social media company.
He has directed Twitter's teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings, according to two sources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters.
He had already cleared out the company's senior ranks, firing its chief executive and top finance and legal executives. Others, including those sitting atop the company's advertising, marketing and human resources divisions, departed throughout the past week.
Musk's first week as Twitter's owner has been marked by chaos and uncertainty. Two company-wide meetings were scheduled, only to be canceled mere hours later.
Employees told Reuters they were left to piece together information through media reports, private messaging groups and anonymous forums.
The layoffs, which were long expected, have chilled Twitter's famously open corporate culture that has been revered by its employees.
"If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home," Twitter said in the email on Thursday.
Shortly after the email landed in Twitter employee inboxes, hundreds of people flooded the company's Slack channels to say goodbye, two employees told Reuters. Someone invited Musk to join the channel, the sources said.
The steep infrastructure cuts could put the Twitter website and app at risk of going down during critical events when users are rushing to Twitter to consume and share information, such as during moments of crisis or major political events, the sources said.
"(Musk) is willing to introduce that risk to meet these goals," the person said.
The second source described the proposed cuts as "delusional," adding that when user traffic kicks up, the service can fail "in spectacular ways."
Teams across Twitter are racing to present a plan to achieve the cost savings by a Nov. 7 deadline, according to one of the sources and the Slack message. Some employees have been ordered to work in the office every day of the week to meet the deadline, the source said.
Cost cuts could also come from reduced spending on Google Cloud services, the source said. A spokesperson for Google Cloud to declined to comment.
F1 teams, drivers and sponsors all have active presences on social media platforms, with seven-time World Champion and double title winner Max Verstappen boasting massive followers, no only on Twitter but also on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
However, the sport's presence on these platforms is marred by hate, abuse, and growing animosity between rival F1 camps to the point that both Verstappen and Hamilton have urged action to be taken by the tech conglomerates, with Lewis suggesting that everyone quit social media.
Time will tell if Musk and his vision for Twitter will also mean war on the digital maggots that spoil the experience and technology for everyone.
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