Elon Musk hints at downsizing in a meeting with Twitter employees

Elon Musk informed Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) staff via a phone call that he intends to increase the social site’s user numbers and that he hasn’t ruled out downsizing as he tries to finalize his $44 billion purchase.

Musk talks to Twitter staffers and hints at job cuts

According to staffers who attended the meeting on Thursday, the billionaire tech entrepreneur also shared his views on freedom of speech and the potential of alien life. His attendance during the 45-minute virtual meeting, which covered a wide range of topics, was yet another surprise in what has been a unique takeover bid.

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Musk’s first direct meeting with Twitter’s employees came weeks after he publicly chastised the social media business, disparaged its top management, and warned to pull out of the agreement. He has suggested Twitter is too dependent on advertising after consenting to the purchase in April, challenged its projected total of phony and spam users, and posted a poop symbol at Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal.

According to those who attended the event on Thursday, Agrawal presented Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk. Leslie Berland, the chief marketing officer of Twitter, then gave Musk questions that workers had submitted.

Musk says job cuts will not affect major contributors

According to others who attended the discussion, Musk stated anybody who is a significant contributor should not be concerned about layoffs. As per the people, he said that currently, costs surpass revenue which is not a good scenario to be in.”

“Still not sure if I need to start packing my bags,” one employee tweeted.

Twitter, like other businesses, has begun taking measures to cut costs, including a hiring halt, renouncing certain job offers, and encouraging staff to cut back on work travel and expenditure. The company also announced that a planned companywide visit to Disneyland in January had been scrapped as part of these savings.

Musk said significant growth in daily active users (DAU) to more than a billion from approximately 229 million presently would be considered a success for Twitter five to ten years from now. During the discussion, he also stated that Twitter, like TikTok, ought to be fun and that he liked the Chinese platform WeChat, which is widely used in China for various reasons, like social networking and e-commerce.