Elon Musk opens up about significant job cuts at Twitter, says other Silicon Valley companies can do the same
Elon Musk said that companies can make employee cuts, 'without affecting their productivity'
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Twitter CEO Elon Musk discussed the significant cuts at Twitter saying that "there were a lot of people that didn't seem to have a lot of value" at the social media company before he took over sharing that he believes that other Silicon Valley companies can do the same.
"There were a lot of people that didn't seem to have a lot of value," Musk said at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in London, England, speaking virtually. "I think that's true at many Silicon Valley companies."
"I think there is the possibility for significant cuts at other companies without affecting their productivity, in fact increasing their productivity," Musk continued.
SpaceX, Twitter and electric carmaker Tesla CEO Elon Musk meets with Frances President at the Élysée presidential palace in Paris on May 15, 2023. (MICHEL EULER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Since the billionaire acquired Twitter, he has slashed nearly 90% of employees, according to a report from Business Insider. Musk explained that before the layoffs there was one person in a meeting who "helped move things forward," and nine others who tried to "slam the brakes on."
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"In any given company, there are people who help move things forward and people who sort of try to slam on the brakes," Musk told the WSJ's Europe, Middle East and Africa editor Thorold Barker. "Twitter was in a situation where you'd have a meeting of ten people and one person with an accelerator and nine with a set of brakes."
"You didn't go very far," the billionaire CEO added.
The logo of Twitter can be seen on the headquarters of the short message service. (Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Since Musk's ownership of the platform, he has worked on slowly revamping the social media site and planning new features for users. He told Barker that the company is "gung ho" about increasing Twitter's functionality.
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"Now we're gung ho about increasing functionality even with a little bit of risk to site stability, so long as it's not too serious," Musk said. "I think at this point it's probably fair to say we have introduced more functionality in the last six months than Twitter has in the last six years."
Twitter CEO Elon Musk speaks at the "Twitter 2.0: From Conversations to Partnerships," marketing conference in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 18, 2023. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Among a host of additional features, Musk shared in a Twitter post that voice and video chat via Twitter handle are in the works. Those capabilities will arrive "soon" and bring users the ability to "talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number," Musk shared in a Twitter post on May 9.
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The CEO has revamped the site’s verification, stripping users of the blue badges obtained through the legacy program and utilizing different-colored check marks for various types of users. The platform also recently rolled out a program that allows eligible users around the world to make available a paid subscription to their fans.