Elon Musk’s mass layoffs at Twitter have begun, and the business has issued a warning to employees that they may receive termination notifications through email as it temporarily closes all of its offices.
The company announced in a memo Thursday evening that all employees will receive an email at 9 a.m. Pacific time on Friday informing them of their employment status.
Twitter announced that its offices will be temporarily closed and all worker credential access will be revoked in order to “help secure the safety of each employee, Twitter systems, and customer data.”
Please return home if you are in or on your way to a workplace, stated the memo.
End of 2021, Twitter had approximately 7,500 employees worldwide, and Musk apparently intends to lay off up to half of them.
The email stated, “In an effort to put Twitter on a healthy path, we will begin the arduous process of decreasing our global staff on Friday.”
Friday morning, Twitter employees who are not affected by the layoffs will receive an email at their place of employment.
The personnel who have been terminated will be advised of their future actions by email, according to the document.
The news of layoffs culminates a week of high-level purges by Musk, who sought significant cost reductions and imposed a harsh new work culture across the social media corporation.
He had already purged the high ranks of the corporation, removing the CEO and top financial and legal professionals. Others, including the heads of the company’s advertising, marketing, and human resources departments, have departed over the past week.
The long-anticipated layoffs have dampened Twitter’s famously open company culture, which was revered by its employees.
Two employees told Reuters that shortly after the email arrived in Twitter employee inboxes, hundreds of people swarmed the company’s Slack channels to say farewell. Sources say that someone invited Musk to join the channel.
According to two persons familiar with the situation and an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters, Musk has also instructed Twitter Inc.’s teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings.
Even as Musk reduces Twitter’s expenses, he confronts risks to the company’s revenue as an increasing number of advertisers cease spending on the site out of concern that it will not remain’safe’ for businesses.
A spokeswoman for Audi informed DailyMail.com on Thursday, one week after the completion of Musk’s $42 billion purchase, “We have temporarily suspended paid support on Twitter and will continue to examine the situation.”
A representative for General Mills, which also manufactures Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, and Haagen-Dazs, confirmed a pause, stating, “We will continue to watch this new trend and evaluate our marketing expenditures.”
Last week, General Motors declared it had ‘temporarily halted’ all sponsored advertising on Twitter due to concerns over Musk’s treatment of competitors. Musk is the CEO of Tesla, a competitor.
In addition, Oreo manufacturer Mondelez International and pharmaceutical company Pfizer have halted their Twitter advertising, according to a Wall Street Journal story citing sources with knowledge of the situation.
Thursday evening, spokespeople for Mondelez and Pfizer did not immediately reply to calls for comment from DailyMail.com.
Twitter has ceased responding to any press requests with the exception of the few Musk tweets.
Musk vowed last week that he would prevent Twitter from becoming a “free-for-all hellscape” and is now attempting to convince advertisers that he will keep his word.
Reportedly, some advertisers have pledged to permanently boycott Twitter if former president Donald Trump is permitted to return. Musk stated on Wednesday that it will be many weeks before a procedure to reinstate banned accounts is in place.
A media buyer at a big ad agency, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, stated that the firm would meet with Musk this week to inquire about how the Tesla CEO intends to manage misinformation on social media.
The buyer also wanted to know how Musk’s promise corresponded with his own acts, such as a weekend tweet that circulated a bogus conspiracy theory about the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Other issues include Musk’s desire to increase the price of Twitter’s subscription service and serve ‘half as many advertisements,’ as well as who will serve as the point of contact for advertisers after a series of senior executives, including Twitter’s ad boss, have left the firm since he took over.
The media buyer stated that the ad agency’s key clients are likely to attend the conference.
Musk is under pressure to avoid upsetting Twitter’s advertisers, who contribute more than 90 percent of the company’s revenue, after he tweeted in 2019 about his distaste of advertising.
He is spending his first week as CEO in New York, where he is joined by venture capitalist friends to reassure companies that annually contribute more than $5 billion to Twitter.
Angel investor and podcast host Jason Calacanis, who is assisting Musk in his first week as owner, tweeted on Monday that Twitter had a’very productive day’ with advertisers and marketers.
Another media buyer told Reuters that their agency will not meet with Musk until he articulates Twitter’s direction or provides a substantial update on how the platform will serve advertisers.
This week, some clients have ceased spending on Twitter advertisements, according to a second media buyer, who declined to name the advertisers because he was not authorized to do so.
The buyer stated that some clients had already withdrawn from Twitter as a result of the months-long chaos surrounding the deal, and others due to concerns regarding child sexual abuse content on Twitter.
According to a source familiar with the situation, IPG, an advertising holding company whose clients include Coca-Cola and American Express, has advised its clients to pause their Twitter advertisements for the next week.
Even as Musk met with major agencies and advertisers this week, he took to Twitter on Wednesday evening to conduct a poll asking whether advertisers should support free speech or “political correctness.”
Nearly 80 percent of more than two million votes were for ‘freedom of speech’
The media buyer stated, “These types of provocations are not helping to calm the seas.”
In addition, more marketers voiced their concerns on LinkedIn regarding Musk’s takeover of the platform.
‘Unless Elon employs new leaders committed to keeping this ‘free’ platform safe from hate speech, brands cannot/should not advertise on it,’ wrote Allie Wassum, global director of social and integrated media for Nike-owned Jordan shoe brand, on Linkedin.
Wassum did not provide more remark in response to a request.