As news of Elon Musk’s hostile takeover offer spread on Twitter on Thursday, officials expressed concern that their jobs could suffer under the leadership of the incendiary technology mogul, as well as exhaustion from the company’s uncertain future.
In recent weeks, Musk has mocked Twitter on social media, reduced the company’s core decisions to polls for about 80 million followers – and disrupted the company’s “focus week” by cutting unnecessary meetings to give employees time to concentrate. on his projects, with news of his takeover on Thursday.
That same afternoon, Twitter CEO Parag Agraval held a company-wide meeting to reassure his 7,500 full-time workforce, arguing that one person cannot change the culture and that it is up to the company to set a strategy, according to people familiar with it matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.
The reputation that Musk has built for himself, in part through trolling, in which he participates in Twitter, is emerging as a duty among the company’s employees on social media. Twitter is known for its liberal workforce and flexible work environment. Musk, on the other hand, appears to be mocking gender pronouns, spreading misinformation about the coronavirus, and his company, Tesla, has been the subject of numerous lawsuits for alleged racial discrimination and sexual harassment.
Many officials tweeted their displeasure Thursday about Musk.
Employees’ discontent may take into account the decision in front of the Twitter board, as it weighs Musk’s offer, which estimates the company at $ 43 billion and will make it private. In addition to assessing the financial details of Musk’s offer, board members are likely to consider Musk’s potential leadership losses as the company faces significant business and political challenges.
What’s going on with Musk buying Twitter?
Agraval of Twitter, who took over as chief executive only in December, found himself in the awkward position of being responsible for Muscovites’ criticism of the general meeting on Thursday. He addressed a wide range of questions from Twitter workers about Musk’s offer to buy the company, including how people of color treat his Tesla company and the billionaire’s strong support for freedom of speech on social media. Others have asked for employee representation on the board and what will happen to the shares of employees with limited shares on Twitter if the company goes private, people said.
Some left disappointed by Agrawal’s assurances, saying they were empty words.
“Obviously people are disappointed that employees look late,” said one.
Twitter employees are facing a whirlwind month as Musk first took a huge stake in the company, then agreed to join the board, then left before joining. Thursday’s news that Musk had made a proposal for a private company shook the workforce, which was already concerned about his leadership style.
moving my hand therapy application to hostile ingestion is the peak of 2022
– Casey Bishop (@caseylbishop) April 14, 2022
Elon Musk says he has a backup plan to buy Twitter in a TED interview
“Musk’s takeover of Twitter would be a nightmare for many Dorsey and Twitter employees,” said Daniel Ives, managing director and senior capital research analyst at financial services firm Wedbush Securities, citing the former chief executive. of the company Jack Dorsey. “I would expect a stream of CVs to hit if Musk eventually takes over Twitter. And I think there will be a big shake in one way or another. “
Twitter declined to comment. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier on Thursday during the TED Talk in Vancouver, Musk said he would be wrong on the side of free speech. “I think we want to be very reluctant to delete things and just be very careful with the constant bans,” he said, adding that he would prefer timeouts.
tweeps, I know it’s a distracting time, but let’s not forget why we’re here and what unites us: 👇
– Luke (@__lucab) April 14, 2022
Last week, Musk revealed that he had bought more than a 9 percent stake in Twitter, and the next day Agraval announced that Musk would join the board. On Sunday night, Agraval made a subsequent announcement that Musk had refused the seat.
Even before his takeover offer, some Twitter employees last week fought to support Musk’s involvement in the company because they said his values ​​contradicted the company, according to inside reports reviewed by The Washington Post. Several officials said in internal reports that Musk, who considers himself a defender of freedom of speech, appears to be contemptuous of the use of pronouns for gender.
“We know that he has harmed workers, the trans community, women and others with less power in the world,” one official asked. “How will we reconcile this decision with our values?” Does innovation win over humanity? “
When Musk was still joining the board, Agraval said he would hold a town hall with Musk so employees could ask questions.
In addition to the horror of Twitter employees on Thursday, the takeover offer came in the middle of the company’s “focus week” as it cut down on unnecessary meetings to give employees time to focus on their projects after a “day off” on Monday when everyone gets off.
Musk launches a hostile takeover offer on Twitter
On Thursday, another official called Musk’s behavior harassment on Twitter. “Titter is currently in trend because he decided – like a bully who succumbs to his fanboy lackeys – to joke at the expense of Twitter,” the official wrote. “And we all know that jokes don’t really make sense. It’s humiliation. “
Tesla’s Gulf factory is facing harassment, harassment, racism and sexual harassment. The factory, which hosts more than 20,000 workers, according to Tesla, is the company’s busiest production plant, producing its Model 3, Y, S and X vehicles.
The California workplace regulator filed a lawsuit against Tesla in February alleging widespread racial discrimination, saying it had received hundreds of complaints from workers about the Fremont, California plant. In a separate lawsuit, Tesla was ordered to pay millions to a former elevator operator who claims to be a hostile work environment and racial harassment. Many women have filed sexual harassment complaints against Tesla, claiming they have been subjected to obscene comments, talk, inappropriate touching and discrimination at its facilities.
Tesla has denied promoting a culture of racism and harassment and has tried to move some of the cases to arbitration so that the issues can be heard out of court.
California is suing Tesla on charges of racial discrimination and harassment
The Fremont plant was also the subject of controversy in early 2020, when Musk defiantly reopened the factory despite county-level shelter orders that would prevent workers from working. Musk promised the workers could stay home if they felt uneasy. The Post later reported that some workers had received notice of termination despite this policy.
Tesla employees, speaking to The Post on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said they were afraid to release their opinion, in part because a fellow employee was fired this year after posting videos of the company’s Full Self-Driving software. “On YouTube. These videos were later analyzed by The Post.
“These [workers] they’re really, really scared, “said a Tesla factory worker, who said they were afraid of incurring Musk’s anger. “He rules with an authoritarian fist.”
In addition to being CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk also founded the tunnel company Boring Co. and Neuralink, which seeks to implant computer chips in people’s brains.
If the takeover is successful, Musk will inherit a company that is vying to increase its customer base and revenue after years of poor financial performance. Twitter is the younger age of social media competitors such as Facebook and TikTok – both with more than a billion users – and faces problems with declining user growth and worries about monetization. By comparison, Twitter has about 217 million users a day.
Analysis: How Elon Musk plays Twitter
Twitter is known to be slow in launching new products and features. After activist investor Elliott Management took a stake in the company in 2020, Twitter has set several ambitious targets for consumer growth and revenue by the end of 2023.
And the company has recently undergone a major change in management. In December, Agraval, who spent four years as chief technology officer, succeeded Dorsey as chief executive officer. Dorsey was also the CEO of both Twitter and online payment company Square, which drew criticism from investors that his time was too divided.
In a surprising tweet, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he was stepping down
“Could you predict a scenario in which, if he takes over, he will make changes to the management team?” Asked Mark Schmulik, managing director of research firm AllianceBernstein. “It simply came to our notice then [it’s] hard to say. “
Twitter is investing in new products, such as the audio chat feature on Twitter Spaces, which had to compete with the newly created Clubhouse. Musk has already hinted that he believes there may be changes to Twitter Blue, the company’s new subscription service that provides paying customers with special features, including the freedom to cancel tweets.
The price should probably be ~ $ 2 / month, but paid 12 months in advance and the account does not receive a check for 60 days (see for a refund in CC) and is suspended without refund if used for fraud / spam
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2022
Opinion: Elon Musk understands what’s wrong with Twitter …
Add Comment