The Twitter deal is yet to formally close as Elon Musk alleges that the company did not accurately disclose the number of fake or spam accounts on the platform.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke to Twitter employees ahead of his potential acquisition of the social media platform. The 50-year-old billionaire, who had proposed to buy Twitter for $44 billion, spoke on a variety of subjects, ranging from lay-offs to work in person. Currently, the Twitter deal is yet to formally close as Musk claims that the social media company did not accurately disclose the number of fake or spam accounts on the platform.
As the deal is yet to move forward, the address to Twitter employees may seem significant from the outside, as it indicates that the final takeover could be in its last stages.
Musk’s video meeting with Twitter employees was covered extensively by CNBC. The media outlet notes that the Tesla CEO also responded to workers’ “most interested” questions. Here are ten key highlights of Musk’s address.
Love for Twitter: Musk claimed that he loves Twitter, and he learns “a lot from” the platform. He said Twitter offers a “great way to get a message out”.
Free speech: CNBC paraphrased Musk’s take on free speech. He had earlier said that free speech would be respected on Twitter, even if it is by the harshest critics. In his address to employees, he had indicated that users should be allowed to say anything they want without the company promoting it.
Relationship with employees: The report claims Musk told Twitter employees that it is great if someone is doing “useful things”. He added, “If they’re not then I’m like why are they at the company.”
Work in person: He highlighted his “bias is strongly towards working in person”. Recently, Tesla workers were asked to return to work from the office. The report, quoting a source, notes, “Tesla makes cars, and you can’t make cars remotely”.
Possible layoffs: Musk will reportedly layoff Twitter employees depending on its financial situation. He claimed that Twitter’s “costs exceed the revenue”.
Curbing hate speech: Musk reportedly reiterated that users should be allowed to say what they want on Twitter, even if it upsets others. Quoting the source, the report adds, “That’s different from Twitter promoting that speech”.
-Not too big on titles: Some reports have pointed out that Twitter’s new CEO, Parag Agrawal, may exit the company following the takeover. However, Musk told employees that he’s impervious to being Twitter CEO. He reportedly said that he wants to drive the platform “in a particular direction”.
-Talks about aliens: Musk also seemingly diverted the conversation towards aliens, possibly to ease the tension. He said that he had not seen actual evidence of aliens.
1 billion daily active users: The Tesla CEO also wants the platform to touch a billion user mark. Twitter has said its monthly active daily user count is 229 million in its Q1 2022 earnings.
Workers seemingly unhappy: Following the meeting, Twitter’s Slack messaging board was negative in nature, the report points out. Musk reportedly said that exceptional employees could likely continue to work remotely. Twitter employees also reportedly shared memes on how to brand themselves as exceptional.