MUSK PROMISED BANKERS TWITTER LAYOFFS
Twitter CEO faces employee anger over Musk attacks at company-wide meeting
By Sheila Dang and Katie Paul
(Reuters) -Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal sought to quell employee anger on Friday during a company-wide meeting where employees demanded answers to how managers planned to handle an anticipated mass exodus prompted by Elon Musk.
The meeting comes after Musk, the Tesla chief executive who sealed a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company, repeatedly criticized Twitter's content moderation practices and a top executive responsible for setting speech and safety policies.
At the internal town hall meeting, which was heard by Reuters, executives said the company would monitor staff attrition daily, but it was too soon to tell how the buyout deal with Musk would affect staff retention.
Musk has pitched lenders on slashing board and executive salaries but exact cost cuts remain unclear, according to sources familiar with the matter. One source said Musk would not make decisions on job cuts until he assumes ownership of Twitter.
"I'm tired of hearing about shareholder value and fiduciary duty. What are your honest thoughts about the very high likelihood that many employees will not have jobs after the deal closes?" one Twitter employee asked Agrawal, in a question read aloud during the meeting.
Agrawal answered that Twitter has always cared about its employees and would continue to do so.
"I believe the future Twitter organization will continue to care about its impact on the world and its customers," he said.
Executives said during the meeting that the employee attrition rate has not changed compared to the levels before the news of Musk's interest in buying the company.
In recent days, Musk has tweeted criticism of Twitter's top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, who is a Twitter veteran and widely-respected across Silicon Valley. Musk's attack triggered a barrage of online harassment targeting her.
Employees also told executives they feared Musk's erratic behavior could destabilize Twitter's business, and hurt it financially as the company prepares to address the advertising world in a presentation next week in New York City.
"Do we have a strategy in the near-term on how to handle advertisers pulling investment," one employee asked.
Sarah Personette, Twitter's chief customer officer, said the company was working to communicate frequently with advertisers and reassure them "the way that we service our customers is not changing."
After the meeting, a Twitter employee told Reuters there was little trust in what executives had to say.
"The PR speak is not landing. They told us don't leak and do a job you are proud of, but there is no clear incentive for employees to do this," the employee told Reuters, noting that compensation for non-executive staffers is now capped because of the deal.
Agrawal is estimated to receive $42 million if he were terminated within 12 months of a change in control at the social media company, according to research firm Equilar.
During the meeting, Agrawal urged staff to expect change in the future under new leadership, and acknowledged that the company could have performed better over the years.
"Yes, we could have done things differently and better. I could have done things differently. I think about that a lot," he said.
Twitter declined further comment.
(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas and Katie Paul in Palo Alto, California; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Kenneth Li and Daniel Wallis)
Elon Musk has reportedly lined up a new Twitter CEO, shared ideas for monetizing tweets
Fri, April 29, 2022,
Elon Musk has lined up a new CEO for Twitter and told banks that agreed to help fund his $44 billion acquisition offer about his plans to monetize tweets, according to a new report from Reuters. A source told Reuters that Musk has decided on who he plans to appoint as the new chief executive of Twitter, but the source didn't name the person. Twitter's current CEO Parag Agrawal, who took the role after Jack Dorsey stepped down in November, is expected to remain as CEO until the deal is completed.
Reuters reports that Musk told Twitter chairman Bret Taylor that he does not have confidence in the company's management, which is a sentiment that he also stated in SEC filings. Agrawal would be set for a significant compensation package if the deal closes and Musk brings in new management, as he would receive $38.7 million due to a clause in his contract, according to the company’s latest proxy filing.
Reuters reports that Musk told banks that he plans to develop more ways to make money from tweets. For example, he said that he plans to create a way to monetize tweets that go viral or include important information. He also suggested the idea of charging a fee when third-party websites quote or embed tweets from verified accounts.
The Washington Post reports that Musk also brought up the idea of paying influencers to create content for the platform, which is a business model that has proven to be successful for TikTok. Musk is also said to be interested in the idea of subscription services that the company could offer.
In deleted tweets from earlier this month, Musk suggested significant changes to Twitter Blue, which is the social media giant's subscription service that is currently priced at $2.99 per month. Musk suggested cutting the price, adding a way to pay in dogecoin and banning advertising. In another now-deleted tweet, Musk said he wants to move Twitter away from its dependence on advertising for much of its revenue.
Musk had also told the banks he could crack down on executive and board pay at Twitter to slash costs. Reuters also reports that in his pitch to the banks, Musk said Twitter's gross margin is much lower than other social media services, such as Facebook and Pinterest, and argued that there are ways to run the company in a more cost-effective way.
Bloomberg News reported this week that Musk spoke to bankers about job cuts as part of his pitch to the lenders. Musk reportedly won't make decisions on job cuts until he receives ownership of the company.
Twitter says the transaction, which was unanimously approved by the board, will likely close this year following shareholder and regulatory approval and “the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.” Musk will have to pay Twitter a $1 billion termination fee if he doesn’t go through with his acquisition of the social network, per a recent SEC filing. The filing, which details the terms of the agreement, indicates Twitter would have to pay the same fee under specific circumstances.
A complete timeline of the Elon Musk-Twitter saga
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