- Elon Musk mentioned shedding almost 6,500 folks at Twitter was “painful” and troublesome for him.
- He informed the BBC’s James Clayton on Tuesday that it was “one of many hardest issues” he’s needed to do.
- Musk mentioned Twitter now employs 1,500 folks, down from round 7,800 when he took over in November.
Elon Musk mentioned shedding the majority of Twitter’s workers within the final six months was “one of many hardest issues” he’s needed to do since taking possession of the corporate.
The billionaire spoke to the BBC’s James Clayton on Tuesday night in a wide-ranging live interview on Twitter Spaces, throughout which Musk talked about his administration of Twitter and beliefs on free speech.
Musk mentioned the corporate had round 7,800 workers when he took over the platform in November. Twitter now employs 1,500 folks, Musk informed the BBC.
“Has it been laborious letting that many individuals go?” Clayton requested.
“Yeah,” Musk answered instantly.
“Not enjoyable in any respect. Painful,” Musk continued after a short pause.
Clayton requested Musk if he felt he or a supervisor wanted to talk personally to laid-off workers. Many former Twitter workers caught in Musk’s mass layoffs on the finish of 2022 mentioned they solely found they misplaced their jobs when Twitter abruptly locked them out of their laptops.
“It’s not bodily attainable to talk to that many individuals,” Musk informed Clayton.
Clayton requested if the mass layoffs have been “one of many hardest issues emotionally” for Musk.
“It’s one of many hardest issues, actually,” Musk responded.
The billionaire mentioned Twitter had “4 months to stay” when he took the corporate’s helm and that the mass layoffs have been a “drastic,” essential measure to stem a “$3 billion adverse money circulation state of affairs.”
The Twitter CEO spent the remainder of the interview speaking about his Shiba Inu, Floki, his need to show the Twitter workplace right into a homeless shelter, and his ideas on political discourse. He additionally challenged Clayton and the BBC on their definitions of misinformation and observations of hate speech on Twitter.
Musk didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark despatched exterior common enterprise hours. Twitter’s press division responded to Insider’s request for remark with an automatic response.
Originally posted 2023-04-12 07:48:26.