Elon Musk Mocks Twitter’s Human Resources Bots After Getting ‘Management 101’ Message

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles on June 13, 2019. Mike Blake/Reuters

New Twitter owner Elon Musk appeared to mock his company’s human resource bots after receiving a “management 101” notice.

Musk, who acquired the social media platform for $44 billion last week, posted what he said was an autogenerated message to him and mocked it.

“Hey Elon,” the automated message began. “It’s time to start Managing @Twitter (M101)!”

It added: “M101 covers what it means to be a good manager at Twitter by showing you how to create opportunities for impact, help your Tweeps grow their careers, and demonstrate care for your team.” The message added that Musk, who owns Twitter, has 30 days to complete the “mandatory course.”

“Just received this email from Twitter,” Musk wrote early on Sunday. “This is an actual, real email that was autogenerated.”

The post comes as reports, citing anonymous sources, say that Musk is planning to fire a significant number of Twitter employees, coming after he removed four of the company’s top managers, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, general counsel Sean Edgett, and legal policy chief Vijaya Gadde.

Ross Gerber, an investor, told The New York Times this weekend he was told by the chief of Musk’s family office to expect up to 50 percent of Twitter employees to be laid off.  However, other sources told the paper that a 50 percent reduction in staff is improbable because it would be catastrophic for the firm’s operations.

Musk has not publicly commented on the reports. Twitter’s communications department has not responded to a request for comment.

Biz Stone, who co-founded Twitter with Jack Dorsey, wrote on the platform that he thanked Segal, Agrawal, and Gadde for their “collective contribution to Twitter” and described them as “massive talents.”

“The bird is freed,” wrote Musk early on Friday, or hours after he acquired the company. It also came amid reports that he fired Twitter’s top management.

Meanwhile, Segal, Agrawal, and Gadde stand to receive separation payouts totaling some $122 million, research firm Equilar said on Friday.

Equilar, known for its research on executive compensation, valued Agrawal’s so-called “golden parachute” at $57.4 million, while Segal’s was $44.5 million and Gadde’s was $20 million. In addition to those payouts, the three executives will also receive a collective $65 million from Musk in exchange for shares they held in the company he has now taken private.

Gadde’s stake was the most valuable, worth $34.8 million based on the final sale price of $54.20 per share, followed by $22 million for Segal and $8.4 million for Agrawal.

Reuters contributed to this report.