Twitter tries calming workers as take care of Elon Musk looms

Twitter is attempting to quell workers’ fears as Elon Musk’s looming takeover of the corporate fuels worries a couple of seismic overhaul of the social media service — however its assurances might solely go up to now.

For months, Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter has roiled the corporate’s 7,500 workers because the billionaire made pronouncements about how he would change the service after which tried to again out of the deal. Now, along with his takeover again on monitor and set to shut no later than subsequent Friday, disquiet inside the corporate has intensified.

Employees’ fears had been stoked Thursday when The Washington Post reported that Musk deliberate to chop Twitter’s employees by as a lot as 75% within the coming months, decreasing its workforce to little over 2,000 folks. Workers have additionally been worrying over how their compensation would possibly change as soon as Musk transforms the corporate from a publicly traded agency into a non-public one, stated 5 workers who weren’t approved to talk publicly.

Late Thursday, Twitter tried to calm among the issues. In a memo to workers after the report of job cuts, Sean Edgett, the final counsel, stated there have been no plans for layoffs.

“We do not have any confirmation of the buyer’s plans following close and recommend not following rumors or leaked documents but rather wait for facts from us and the buyer directly,” he wrote. The memo was reported earlier by Bloomberg.

Whatever Twitter does to reassure its workers will not be sufficient. Once Musk — a famously mercurial entrepreneur — completes the deal for the corporate, he can do virtually something he likes with the agency. And he has indicated that he plans to make massive adjustments.

Musk has stated that he needs extra free speech on the platform and that he’ll permit former President Donald Trump, who was barred from the service, to return to tweeting. Musk, who has publicly criticized Twitter’s executives, has additionally stated he plans so as to add extra subscription providers to Twitter and lower some jobs whereas attracting extra customers to the service.

As of Friday, the deal gave the impression to be hurtling towards the end line. The funding banks which have dedicated $12.5 billion to finance Musk’s takeover of Twitter proceed to work on finalizing these commitments forward of the Oct. 28 deadline, stated an individual with data of the scenario. Musk’s advisers are additionally sharing their monetary evaluation of the corporate with buyers, the particular person stated.

Once the deal is closed, Musk is anticipated to run Twitter on a lean finances. The billionaire, who additionally oversees the electrical automaker Tesla and the rocket firm SpaceX, is taking out greater than $12 billion in loans to finance the Twitter acquisition, which places him on the hook for costly repayments. Investors who’re contributing greater than $7 billion in fairness to the acquisition will even finally anticipate returns.

Musk, who’s paying $54.20 a share for Twitter, has made it clear that he thinks he’s paying an excessive amount of for the corporate as its inventory has swooned in current months. “Obviously, myself and other investors are overpaying for Twitter right now,” he stated Wednesday throughout an earnings name for Tesla’s quarterly outcomes.

A spokesman for Musk’s authorized staff declined to remark. Twitter declined to remark.

Inside Twitter, workers have been on a knife’s edge since Musk grew to become the corporate’s largest shareholder this yr. Concerns about his possession have been compounded by the state of Twitter’s enterprise, which has been inconsistent.

Early this yr, Twitter thought of cost-cutting measures, together with not changing workers who left due to attrition and small rounds of layoffs, two folks with data of the plans stated. In current months, Twitter has aggressively lower prices by freezing hiring for many jobs and decreasing its actual property.

Workers are additionally involved that Musk won’t proceed compensating them as deliberate, 5 workers stated. Under the phrases of the deal, Musk agreed to proceed paying Twitter workers their comparable salaries and advantages for one yr. But their fairness compensation will change.

Twitter workers at present obtain common grants of shares within the firm, that are earned over time based mostly on their employment agreements. But, with Musk’s planning to take the corporate personal and Twitter’s inventory set to be delisted, these grants are to get replaced with money. Shares that workers have already earned will likely be paid out on the worth that Musk agreed to pay for Twitter.

Some workers stated they had been involved that Musk may not honor that settlement given how he had repeatedly modified his thoughts on the deal. To handle issues, Twitter created an inner doc to reply questions on how fairness compensation would possibly shift below Musk, three folks with data of the matter stated.

On inner Slack channels, employees have tried to advise each other on methods to handle their funds in the course of the merger course of, stated three folks conversant in the conversations. Some have been suggested to obtain their fairness contracts in case Musk makes an attempt to delete or change the agreements, they stated.

The uncertainty about pay has brought about friction between Twitter’s workers and the corporate’s executives, three workers stated. That’s as a result of prime executives are set to obtain golden parachutes value thousands and thousands if Musk fires them.

Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief govt, is ready to obtain greater than $60 million in money and inventory if Musk fires him. Other prime executives stand to make greater than $20 million. In response to workers’ questions in regards to the govt payouts, Twitter’s administration has stated that such govt funds are routine in acquisitions.

Some Twitter workers stated they hoped to at the very least be employed by way of Nov. 1, when many are scheduled to obtain their subsequent fairness grant and tranche of inventory or money compensation.

Other workers responded to the prospect of layoffs with darkish humor, joking about how few folks could be left working on the firm after Musk took management.

“Pumped for our 2023 all hands,” tweeted one Twitter worker, referring to a companywide assembly. He included a video of simply 4 folks dancing.

This article initially appeared in The New York Times.