Last Saturday, February 25, Twitter carried out a new wave of dismissals in a new attempt to reduce costs. At the moment the number of affected employees is unknown, although according to The Information, the list would amount to more than fifty people, a figure that according to the journalist Zoë Schiffer is probably much higher.
The headcount reduction affected workers across all teams and departments, including engineering and product. Some employees learned of their dismissal through an email they received late on Saturday, late at night. Others verified that they no longer had access to the internal system of the technology.
Just a few months ago, Twitter promised to end mass layoffs, but this isn’t the first time the company has gone back on its word. Elon Musk continues to cut staff in collective layoffs that affect dozens of employees, as happened this Saturday.
Among those affected is Esther Crawford, the CEO of Twitter Payments who justified some employees having to sleep at Twitter headquarters to meet the new deadlines and created the hashtag
Crawford’s dismissal has not left anyone indifferent; The executive in charge of Twitter Payments was also in charge of redesigning Twitter Blue, the platform’s new paid subscription. Delivered to the sacrifices required by a company in full reconstruction, Crawford declared a few months ago that “creating new things on the scale of Twitter is very difficult.”
“I have teammates all over the world who strive to bring something new to life, so it’s important for me to introduce myself to them and keep the team unlocked,” she added shortly after sharing a photo of herself sleeping on the floor. from one of the company’s offices.
Founders of numerous startups that had joined Twitter through acquisitions, including Revue and Ueno, said Sunday that their positions had also been removed. As confirmed by sources close to the company, Twitter had avoided firing these founders so as not to have to speed up the award of new, larger concessions.
Throughout the final months of 2022, the new CEO laid off more than 3,700 company employees in an attempt to cut costs following a $44 billion transaction. “Heard the Twitter layoffs last night were well over 50 and affected multiple departments including engineering. If you know more please contact me,” journalist Zoë Schiffer tweeted on Sunday.
Crawford’s is not the only notable layoff on Saturday, Musk also decided to terminate the contract of Martijn de Kuijper, founder of Revue. “Waking up to find I’ve been locked out of my email. Seems like they let me go. Now my Revue journey is truly over,” the product manager tweeted.
After the new wave of layoffs, Musk dedicated a tweet to the victims: “I hope you have a good Sunday. First day of the rest of your life.” De Kuijper did not hesitate to answer him and ironically dedicate a “Thank you, Elon!”. It is estimated that since the arrival of the Twitter tycoon he has cut more than 80% of his staff, which has directly affected the proper functioning of the platform.
