The fallout from Elon Musk’s deal to buy the social networking company Twitter is still unfolding.
Twitter CEO Paraj Agrawal sought to calm employee anger Friday during a company-wide meeting, where employees demanded answers about how managers plan to deal with the expected mass exit due to Musk, according to Reuters.
The meeting came after Musk, the Tesla CEO who struck a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, repeatedly criticized Twitter’s content moderation practices and a senior executive responsible for setting speech and safety policies.
staff retention
At the internal meeting, executives announced that the company would monitor the rate of daily staff attrition, but it was too early to tell how the acquisition with Musk would affect employee retention.
Informed sources reported that Musk told the banks that will finance the deal that he will reduce the salaries of board members and executives, but the cost reductions are still not precisely clear. One of the sources said that Musk will not make decisions about job cuts until he becomes the owner of Twitter.
One employee also asked Agrawal a question that was read aloud during the meeting: “I am tired of hearing talk about shareholder value and fiduciary duty. What are your thoughts on the very high probability that many employees will lose their jobs after the deal is done?”
She always takes care of her employees
Agrawal replied that Twitter has always taken care of its employees and will continue to do so. “I believe that Twitter’s future organization will continue to care about its impact on the world and its customers,” he said.
During the meeting, executives clarified that the attrition rate was unchanged from levels that preceded the news of Musk’s interest in buying the company.
Destabilizing Twitter’s business
Employees told executives they fear Musk’s “eccentric behavior” could destabilize Twitter’s business and hurt it financially, as the company prepares to address the world of advertising at a presentation next week in New York City.
“Do we have a near-term strategy on how to deal with divestment advertisers?” asked one employee.
While Sarah Personnet, chief customer officer at Twitter, confirmed that the company is working to communicate frequently with advertisers and reassure them “that the way we serve our customers will not change.”
No confidence
After the meeting, a Twitter employee told Reuters there was little confidence in what the executives were saying. He added, “Public relations talk does not help. They told us that it is forbidden to leak and do something you are proud of, but there is no clear incentive for employees to do so,” noting that the rewards for non-executive employees have now been capped because of this deal.
During the meeting, Agrawal urged employees to anticipate change in the future under the new leadership and acknowledged that the company could have done better over the years.
In recent days, Musk has posted on Twitter criticism of Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Jade, a Twitter veteran who is widely respected in Silicon Valley. Musk’s attack sparked a barrage of online harassment targeting her.
