By Oyintari Ben
Elon Musk acknowledged that bankruptcy was a possibility in his first speech to Twitter Inc. employees after paying the firm $44 billion to acquire it.
According to an individual familiar with the situation who asked to remain anonymous because they were sharing non-public information, Yoel Roth and Robin Wheeler, two executives who up until today had appeared as members of Elon Musk’s new leadership team, have resigned.
When his acquisition finalized last month, Musk forced most of the top executives of the social network out. Since then, Roth has taken charge of all the social network’s Trust and Safety initiatives, while Wheeler, a vice president of sales, recently assumed responsibility for managing relationships with uneasy advertisers concerned about content.
Due to Musk’s ambitions for content filtering, several advertisers have pulled back, leaving the social network with a large debt load from the acquisition. Musk’s bankruptcy declaration was previously reported by The Information and Platformer.
According to the source, Musk also informed the staff on the conversation that Twitter’s offices will no longer offer free meals and other incentives.
Musk stated in his discussion of Twitter’s finances and future that the firm must act quickly to make Twitter Blue, a $8 membership service, something users will want to pay for given the impact that advertisers’ pullback is having on revenue.
Musk cautioned employees of “tough times ahead” in an email sent late on Wednesday, adding that there was “no way to sugarcoat the news” regarding the company’s economic future. He prohibited remote work for his staff members, unless he personally approved it.
The billionaire recently reduced Twitter’s personnel by half and drastically altered its subscription policies. Due to the adjustments, several significant advertisers on Thursday were impersonated by accounts that had blue check marks, signifying authentication.
The departures of Twitter’s top information security officer, chief privacy officer, and chief compliance officer earlier on Thursday raised questions about the company’s capacity to maintain the safety of its platform and adhere to legal requirements. A consent order between Twitter and the Federal Trade Commission now governs how the business manages user data, and infractions might result in penalties.
