Elon Musk has taken another axe to Twitter’s workforce and morale as he slices thousands more workers from the fledgling company.
It’s estimated that around 4,400 of the company’s 5,500 contract workers were fired by Musk, Platformer reported, although this number has not been verified.
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The workers in question reportedly had no prior notice of their terminations, and most only discovered their new employment status after losing access to work systems such as Slack, according to internal communications shared with CNBC.
“Elon Musk’s management style is unique and indicative of an increasing personalization of power, with fewer chances for other top executives to express dissent and question the leader’s decision-making,” Laura Petrone, principal analyst at GlobalData, tells Verdict.
“Musk also doesn’t appear to have a clear strategy for bringing Twitter’s finances under control.”
Critics have claimed that Twitter’s job-cutting approach won’t do anything to help Musk or Twitter’s image.
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By GlobalData“This was underlined by a warning, if not a threat, to employees that ‘bankruptcy is not out of the question’,” Kevin Poulter, employment partner at Freeths solicitors, tells Verdict.
Poulter added that the threat is not going to build confidence in Twitter and could be the reason the company falls.
Solicitors have also spoken out about Musk, claiming he needs to tread carefully to navigate the risk of employment claims over breach of contract or unfair dismissals.
“The main deterrent for businesses to stay on the right side of employment law is the risk of a payout, and what is clear is that one thing the world’s richest man is not lacking in is money,” Joseph Navas, leading solicitor at Britton & Time Solicitors, tells Verdict.
The job cuts come after a long takeover battle, which ended with Musk buying the social media platform for $44bn on 27 October 2022.
“Shortly after completing his purchase of Twitter after a tumultuous legal battle, one of Musk’s first orders as was to lay off around 3,700 employees – around half of the workforce,” Verdict reported.
The “tech bloodbath” looks set to continue as others, like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, announced large-scale cuts to its workforce this week.
GlobalData is the parent company of Verdict and its sister publications.
