(San Francisco) The new boss of Twitter, Elon Musk, has asked employees of the social network individually to commit, by Thursday, to give their “full” for the company, failing which they will be laid off, according to an internal letter consulted by AFP.
“To build a revolutionary Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we are going to need to be thorough, to the extreme,” wrote the new majority shareholder of the platform in this internal communication.
“That means working long hours at high intensity,” he continued. “Only outstanding performance will earn a sufficient mark. »
The executive invited employees to opt in to his approach by clicking a “yes” box and explained that if they didn’t do so by Thursday at 5 p.m. salary.
A method that clashes even in the United States where labor law is less protective of employees than in many developed countries.
Asked by AFP, Twitter did not respond immediately.
Upon his arrival at the head of the San Francisco (California) group at the end of October, Elon Musk fired most of the company’s senior executives, and others resigned, leaving him almost alone in charge.
He brought in engineers from his flagship Tesla to help him assess Twitter employees, before laying off around half of the platform’s 7,500 employees barely a week after the takeover.
” Someone else ”
On Wednesday, during a hearing in a lawsuit concerning his compensation at Tesla, the billionaire assured that Tesla executives had come on a voluntary basis.
He said a “fundamental organizational restructuring” of Twitter would “probably” be completed this week.
Once the early frenzy passes, “I think I’ll cut back on the time I spend on Twitter and find someone else to run” the company, he said.
” That’s excellent news ! ! Reacted analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush, who relays the concerns of the market and Tesla investors about the behavior of the multi-entrepreneur.
“All this circus at Twitter must stop… It harms the brand image (of Tesla)” commented Dan Ives last Thursday.
The social network is going through serious turbulence, marked in particular by the withdrawal of several major advertisers, who have interrupted their purchases of advertising space on the platform, the main source of turnover for the group.
Elon Musk has warned Twitter teams that the company risks bankruptcy if it fails to generate more revenue in the coming months.
In his usual style, the whimsical leader has alternated in recent days between threats, prophecies, abrupt decisions and sarcasm.
Several engineers have been fired since Monday for questioning or criticizing the new boss, on Twitter or on the company’s internal messaging system, according to their tweets and those of Elon Musk.
“I would like to apologize for firing these geniuses. Their immense talent will undoubtedly be very useful elsewhere, ”said Tuesday the one who presents himself as the ultimate defender of freedom of expression.