It took Elon Musk a while, but he’s finally emailed the staff of Twitter on Wednesday. And the news that he shared was not good. The Verge has the details:
In the email sent to Twitter staff late Wednesday evening and obtained by The Verge, Musk warned that a weaker economic environment in the US would mean difficulties for the company’s ads business. “Frankly, the economic picture ahead is dire, especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate,” he wrote. “Moreover, 70% of our advertising is brand, rather than specific performance, which makes us doubly vulnerable!”
Musk said the company’s “top priority” is Twitter Blue, its revamped $8 a month subscription that adds a verified check mark to the user’s profile and unlocks additional features. “Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn,” he wrote. “We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription.”
In a one-sentence follow-up email sent shortly after, simply titled “Top Priority,” Musk said, “Over the next few days, the absolute top priority is finding and suspending any verified bots/trolls/spam.”
He also told employees that, starting November 10th, they are expected to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours a week and that he would only approve remote work on a case-by-case basis. “Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable,” he wrote.
I’m going to call it now. None of this is going to go over well with the remaining staff that are left at Twitter. In fact, this will likely send many to the exits. Assuming that everything else that is going on with Twitter hasn’t already sent the remaining staff to the exits. And what kills me about this email is that he’s taken two weeks or so to click send on it. If you’re looking to retain talent, communicating to employees should be job number one. But that’s clearly not how Musk rolls. And that will come back to haunt him.
All I have to say at this point is that anyone left in Twitter should assume the worst and make plans to be working someplace else when it happens. Because it will happen.
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This entry was posted on November 10, 2022 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Elon Emails Twitter Staff…. He Kills Remote Work & Warns Of “Difficult Times Ahead”
It took Elon Musk a while, but he’s finally emailed the staff of Twitter on Wednesday. And the news that he shared was not good. The Verge has the details:
In the email sent to Twitter staff late Wednesday evening and obtained by The Verge, Musk warned that a weaker economic environment in the US would mean difficulties for the company’s ads business. “Frankly, the economic picture ahead is dire, especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate,” he wrote. “Moreover, 70% of our advertising is brand, rather than specific performance, which makes us doubly vulnerable!”
Musk said the company’s “top priority” is Twitter Blue, its revamped $8 a month subscription that adds a verified check mark to the user’s profile and unlocks additional features. “Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn,” he wrote. “We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription.”
In a one-sentence follow-up email sent shortly after, simply titled “Top Priority,” Musk said, “Over the next few days, the absolute top priority is finding and suspending any verified bots/trolls/spam.”
He also told employees that, starting November 10th, they are expected to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours a week and that he would only approve remote work on a case-by-case basis. “Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable,” he wrote.
I’m going to call it now. None of this is going to go over well with the remaining staff that are left at Twitter. In fact, this will likely send many to the exits. Assuming that everything else that is going on with Twitter hasn’t already sent the remaining staff to the exits. And what kills me about this email is that he’s taken two weeks or so to click send on it. If you’re looking to retain talent, communicating to employees should be job number one. But that’s clearly not how Musk rolls. And that will come back to haunt him.
All I have to say at this point is that anyone left in Twitter should assume the worst and make plans to be working someplace else when it happens. Because it will happen.
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This entry was posted on November 10, 2022 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.