Twitter Faces Uncertain Future as Top Managers Leave and Rumors of Job Cuts Swirl

Elon Musk on a smartphone placed on printed Twitter logos in an illustration on April 28, 2022. Dado Ruvic/Reuters

With Elon Musk taking over Twitter, top managers of the company are reportedly exiting the firm, and there are rumors of large layoffs.

Sarah Personette, the chief customer officer of Twitter, for example, resigned from her post on Oct. 28. Her work access was officially cut off on Oct. 31. Nick Caldwell, general manager for core technologies, announced his exit on Oct. 30. Dalana Brand, Twitter’s chief people and diversity officer, resigned from her post on Friday after “4 amazing years” at the company, she wrote in a tweet on Nov. 1.

The exits follow Musk firing CEO Parag Agarwal, CFO Ned Segal, and senior legal staffers Sean Edgett and Vijaya Gadde after the takeover.

According to a Bloomberg report, Musk plans to eliminate around 3,700 jobs at the company. At the end of 2021, the company’s total workforce stood at 7,500. However, there is no official word about the layoffs. Musk had earlier denied rumors that he plans on laying off 75 percent of the workforce.

Slimming down the employee count at Twitter has the backing of Changpeng Zhao, the chief executive and founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which has invested $500 million in Twitter.

Speaking at the annual Web Summit in Portugal, he said that Twitter has been “quite slow” in rolling out new features, according to The Guardian.

“Very simple things [haven’t] been really implemented very quickly, given the large workforce,” he said, referring to features like the edit button. “So, a slimmer workforce would make more sense.”

Though Zhao admitted that he did not know what Musk’s plans were for layoffs, he expressed trust that the SpaceX founder will “do the right thing for the organization.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to Twitter.

Subscription, Free Speech

Musk is also planning to charge $8 a month for the platform’s blue checkmark, with the price being adjusted according to a country’s purchasing-power parity, he noted in a tweet on Nov. 1.

Those who subscribe will also get priority in replies, mentions, and searches, which he says is “essential to defeat spam/scam.” In addition, subscribers will be exposed to half as many ads and will get the ability to post long videos and audio.

A paywall bypass for publishers will also be implemented, provided they are “willing to work with us.” These measures will give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators, Musk added.

Meanwhile, some top advertisers are reportedly advising clients to put a temporary hold on their ad campaigns on Twitter until the company provides more information about ensuring trust and safety on the platform.

Back in May, media reports suggested that George Soros, staffers of the Clinton and Obama administrations, and European governments were backing a campaign that urges corporations to boycott Twitter following Musk’s takeover.

In a message posted to Twitter on Oct. 27, Musk stated that the reason he acquired the social media platform is to ensure that people have a common digital town square.

“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society,” he said.