Twitter Is Done With Layoffs, May Set Up Engineering Team In India: Elon Musk

Twitter will set up engineering teams in India, Japan, Indonesia, and Brazil, Musk reportedly said.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk reportedly said that the microblogging platform is done with laying off employees, and is looking to hire again. This development comes days after the company laid off nearly two-thirds of its nearly 7,500 employees across the globe. The recent firings have been a part of Musk’s plans to revamp Twitter, which he said was losing millions of dollars on a daily basis under the current economic meltdown owing to macroeconomic factors such as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the post-Covid bubble burst, which also affected several major tech players such as Amazon and Facebook-parent Meta.

As per a report by The Verge, Musk said during an all-hands meeting with Twitter employees on November 22 that the company is finally done with layoffs and is actively pursuing hiring for roles in engineering and sales. Musk also added that employees are encouraged to offer referrals, as per inputs from sources and a partial recording obtained by the publication.

Musk took over Twitter in a hostile $44-billion bid in late October and introduced several changes to the company, including the monetisation of the platform’s blue-tick verification policy, along with mass layoffs. 

Offering a reason behind the layoffs, Musk said on November 5 that there was "no choice" as the company was losing over $4 million per day. He also announced that those who were laid off were offered three months of severance pay, which was 50 percent more than what was legally required.

Most tech companies saw unprecedented growth in demand during the Covid-induced pandemic, which led to a massive hiring spree. However, as the world is slowly recovering from Covid and due to the added pressure owing to the Russia-Ukraine war, high inflation, declining consumer demands, and recession, the same companies are currently on a self-correction path. 
 
E-commerce giant Amazon reportedly laid off nearly 10,000 employees globally. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, too, laid off nearly 11,000 workers earlier this month. Other tech leaders such as Google and Apple have also announced slowdowns in hiring. Even Indian companies such as Byju’s and Unacademy have laid of thousands of workers. 

Dual headquarters, compensation structure, more details specified by Musk

Musk didn’t specify which kind of engineering or sales roles Twitter is particularly looking to hire. “In terms of critical hires, I would say people who are great at writing software are the highest priority,” Musk reportedly said during the meet. The new chief also said that Twitter might be looking at a “dual-headquarter” structure with offices in California (Twitter’s original headquarters) and Texas (the current location of Musk’s Tesla headquarters).

Musk was fielding questions from employees during the meeting. When asked about employee compensations, Musk reportedly said that workers will be given stock options in Twitter and that they will be eligible for regular cash outs, just like how Tesla operates. 

“Significant portions of technology stack need to be rebuilt from scratch,” Musk said during the meet, adding that Twitter will set up engineering teams in India, Japan, Indonesia, and Brazil.

Speaking on his drastic revamp, Musk reportedly admitted that the ongoing reorganisation will “have lots of mistakes” but “stabilise over time”.