Elon Musk is getting straight to the point about the fate of Twitter in his first formal message to Twitter employees since acquiring the social media platform in a $44 billion deal.
The world’s richest man sent an email to staffers on Wednesday (November 9) for the first time at 2:39 a.m. ET, according to a time stamp confirmed by Business Insider.
In the message, Elon told the Twitter employees that they were no longer allowed to work remotely, and must come into the office for at least 40 hours a week unless given approval to work elsewhere.
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Days after the deal, employees noticed the company’s “days of rest,” implemented by the Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, had been removed from their calendars.
Read the full email sent to employees, via BI…
Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message.
Frankly, the economic picture ahead is dire, especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate. Moreover, 70% of our advertising is brand, rather than specific performance, which makes us doubly vulnerable!
That is why the priority over the past ten days has been to develop and launch Twitter Blue Verified subscriptions (huge props to the team!). Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn. We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription.
Of course, we will still then be significantly reliant on advertising, so I am spending time with our sales & partnerships teams to ensure that Twitter continues to be appealing to advertisers. This is the Spaces discussion that Robin, Yoel and I hosted today:
[Links to a Twitter Spaces recording called “Elon Q&A: Advertising & the Future.”]
The road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed. We are also changing Twitter policy such that remote work is no longer allowed, unless you have a specific exception. Managers will send the exceptions lists to me for review an approval.
Starting tomorrow (Thursday), everyone is required to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable.
I look forward to working with you to take Twitter to a whole new level. The potential is truly incredible!
Thanks,
Elon
At the same time, Twitter is now facing an identity crisis as verified profiles pop up impersonating celebrities.
