On Thursday, Elon Musk sent his first email to Twitter staff and informed them of a dire situation at the social network, while also saying at a meeting his recent Tesla stock sale was to “save” the social network, reports The New York Times.
Musk told employees the company did not have enough cash to stay afloat, according to unnamed sources. Twitter has a negative cash flow of several billion dollars said Musk, without mentioning specifics. He also said bankruptcy was possible.
Earlier this week it was revealed Musk had sold almost $4 billion in Tesla stock, according to SEC filings.
Despite Twitter seeing half of their 7,500 employees laid off, Musk apparently told employees the company remains overstaffed. The remaining staff had to be more “hard core”, Musk reportedly said.
An email earlier today to staff by Musk, his first to Twitter employees, explained remote work would be ending at Twitter. Musk said “the economic picture ahead is dire” at Twitter and that the company needed to focus on getting user subscriptions instead of relying too heavily on advertisers. Again, Musk also wrote, “the absolute top priority is finding and suspending any verified bots/trolls/spam.”
Twitter is losing $4 million per day, said Musk previously. After acquiring Twitter and loading $13 billion in debt for the purchase, Musk needs to pay $1 billion in interest payments per year.
When Musk held a Twitter Spaces yesterday, employees on the call included ad executive Robin Wheeler and Yoel Roth, head of trust and safety. Both resigned on Thursday, along with Human Resources leader Kathleen Pacino, says the NYT.
Twitter executives resigned. They included Kathleen Pacini, a human resources leader; Yoel Roth, the head of trust and safety; and Robin Wheeler, an advertising executive, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The changes at Twitter appear to have caught the eye of federal regulators.
“We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern,” said Douglas Farrar, a spokesman for the F.T.C., in a statement to the Times. “No C.E.O. or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”
Yesterday, Twitter Blue with verification was launched for $7.99 USD per month, allowing anyone paying to get a blue checkmark.
