As people frantically refreshed their work and personal accounts to learn their fate, new owner Elon Musk sought to defend his decision to terminate thousands of jobs. He said the company had experienced a “massive drop in revenue” due to a flight of advertisers from the social network.
It was an eventful week for Twitter. Since his takeover last week, Musk has assembled a transition team of close confidants to help identify deep cost cuts and quick ways to jump-start revenue. The workforce reductions are expected to affect 3,700 jobs — about half of the company. Some outgoing staff said they will be paid at least two months of severance. Musk is also looking for places to cut within Twitter’s technical infrastructure.
At the same time, remaining employees are racing to develop new tools that can be sold to users. The most urgent is a revised subscription program that will, among other perks, let anyone get a blue badge with a check mark next to their name on the site if they pay $8 a month. Currently, the check marks are free, used as a designation for verified accounts of celebrities, politicians, journalists and other public figures to distinguish them from impostors.
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