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☆ Mark Zuckerberg's personal security allowance just increased by $4 million despite Meta's 'efficiency' push
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Meta founder and CEO just received a large increase to a pre-tax allowance for security costs. Last year, Zuckerberg spent over $25 million on personal security, all of which was covered by Meta. The annual, pre-tax allowance Zuckerberg gets to cover his security costs was just increased to $14 million from $10 million, according to a disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The last time Zuckerberg's security allowance went up was in 2018. Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, Larry Ellison, Elon Musk and other well-known founders and executives attribute millions of dollars in security costs to their companies.

☆ Elon Musk gets a kick out of seeing information from the 'Twitter Files' released onto the platform, Matt Taibbi says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Matt Taibbi says Elon Musk gets a kick out of seeing information released via the "Twitter Files." "He gets a kick out of seeing all this stuff come out on Twitter," Taibbi said on the podcast, referring to Musk. Taibbi is one of the journalists who released the "Twitter Files," which came about after Musk acquired the platform. As part of the Twitter Files, Taibbi has posted lengthy threads containing leaked internal emails, messages, and other information he found. Later that month, Musk accused "corporate journalism" of failing to side with the people over the "Twitter Files."

☆ Some Meta employees are getting paid to do 'zero work' as the company embarks on a 'year of efficiency': Financial Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Meta signaled in February it's likely to cut more jobs this year after culling 11,000 jobs last year. And even news of further job cuts at the tech giant has not come as a surprise. And jittery Meta staff have been bracing for another round of job cuts even before the earnings call, Insider's Kali Hays reported. Meta's drive for efficiency has even led the company to ask some managers and directors to transition to individual roles — or leave the company, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. These sweeping job cuts and the ensuing uncertainty have led to major disruptions in the lives of affected employees, some of whom took to social media to chronicle the life-changing event.

☆ After years in Big Tech, laid off workers are coming to grips with a harsh new reality: jobs that offer lower pay, fewer perks and less purpose
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Kali Hays | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Big Tech has long been known for sparing little expense to make workers happy. A few weeks ago, the former Twitter worker started a new job at another tech company. Many people who spent years in Big Tech, with its big salaries, generous stock grants, and luxurious perks, are being forced to adjust to a new, lower, standard of work. Yet the employees that remain in Big Tech still have it good. And a tech job market now flush with experienced workers is letting companies force pay down dramatically.

☆ Twitter went down because an employee accidentally deleted data, and there was nobody left on the team responsible due to Elon Musk's cuts, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On Wednesday, Twitter users were faced with the errant warning: "You are over the daily limit for sending tweets." And the team responsible for the service had all left the company in November, per Platformer. In a private message seen by Insider's Kali Hays, one Twitter employee described it as "a massive outage." Since Musk took over the company, employee numbers have fallen more than two-thirds, from over 7,000 to around 2,300, per the billionaire himself. After Wednesday's outage, Musk emailed Twitter staff telling them to "pause new feature development" in order to ensure "system stability and robustness," Fortune first reported.

☆ Twitter founder Jack Dorsey mocked new owner Elon Musk's company over a major outage, saying it used to be where people talked 'when anything went down'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Jack Dorsey, the Twitter cofounder, criticized Elon Musk's Twitter management on Wednesday. A "massive" outage left users unable to tweet because data was mistakenly deleted, per Platformer. "When anything went down, people went to Twitter to talk about it. "Used to be when anything went down, people went to Twitter to talk about it. Platformer reported that the fiasco occurred because an employee had accidentally deleted data for the service which sets rate limits, and the team responsible for that had left Twitter in November.

☆ Twitter suffers 'massive outage' under Elon Musk leaving users unable to tweet, message and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Twitter users on Wednesday were suddenly unable to tweet, direct message, or use other features. The ability to tweet, retweet, quote tweet and direct message on Twitter, each core functions of the platform, stopped for many users on Wednesday. By Wednesday afternoon Pacific Time, tweeting and likes were functioning again for many users, while the ability to direct message and retweet was still out. Fortune reported that Musk message earlier on Wednesday. A former Twitter executive previously told Insider how Twitter was likely to degrade over time, not simply implode all at once.

☆ Elon Musk reportedly fired a Twitter engineer on the spot after the worker told him his popularity was sinking on the site
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk fired a Twitter engineer who showed him his popularity was declining, Platformer reports. Elon Musk has fired thousands of Twitter employees since taking the company private in October. "This is ridiculous," Musk told the employees, Platformer said, citing multiple sources with direct knowledge of the meeting. It's not the first time that Musk has fired an employee on the spot. Only a few weeks after taking Twitter private, Musk fired three Twitter employees that criticized him on social media.

☆ Snap cuts more costs by replacing employee performance bonuses, long a cornerstone of tech pay
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Snap is moving to replace its cash performance bonuses with a more limited potential pay increase. Snap will change its employee performance bonus system as the company continues to reduce costs amid struggles with profitability. For many years, Snap employees could receive an annual cash bonus equal to 10% of their base salary after performance reviews. Moving away from a cash performance bonus, however, is rare, even as guaranteed grants of stock in compensation packages become more costly for companies. A performance bonus can range from 5% to 20% of a person's base salary at major tech firms, according to data from tech compensation database Levels.fyi.

☆ Ex-Meta exec had 'real issues' with the company's decisions and spending: 'I thought large fractions were really poorly spent'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former Meta VR exec John Carmack said he had "real issues" with the company's plans and spending. "I was having some real issues at Meta with large-scale strategic directions," Carmack said in an interview with the business publication, Dallas Innovates. "I'm sure you've seen some of the headlines about how much money they're spending, and I thought large fractions were really poorly spent." He had previously been Oculus' CTO. Zuckerberg has taken several strides in recent months to cut back on company spending — including embracing his role as "Chopper-in-Chief," Insider's Kali Hays reported.

☆ Elon Musk is changing Twitter so much, even investor Marc Andreessen is getting upset and complained to him directly
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Issues with how Twitter looks and operates have been frequent since billionaire Elon Musk took over. Investor Marc Andreessen invested in Musk's takeover and is said to have complained directly to him. Twitter CEO Elon Musk is pushing so many changes to the social media site so fast that high profile users, Musk fans, and even some of his investors are complaining. Representatives of Twitter and Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to requests for comment. "Musk knows it's bad right now, but it's going to get better over time," a person familiar with Twitter said.

☆ Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes a U-turn on metaverse spending as Reality Labs is hit with a new 'efficiency' mantra
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Metaverse spending will continue, although "we're constantly shifting how we execute," he said. The Reality Labs division, tasked with building the metaverse, lost $13.7 billion this year, according to Wednesday's disclosure. Still, Reality Labs would be subject to the same push for efficiency as other parts of the company, Zuckerberg said. David Wehner, the then-CFO who is now chief strategy officer, said spending on the Reality Labs division would increase "significantly" in 2023. Such boasting of the metaverse and the Reality Labs division was nowhere to be found during Wednesday's discussion of the year ahead.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg is finally embracing his new role as Meta's Chopper-in-Chief. Here are the plans he just laid out to further cut costs in 2023.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The company is canceling multiple data center projects. Canceling multiple data center projectsMeta has also been canceling multiple data center projects, and incurred $1.3 billion in charges related to that. Li said the same operational "scrutiny" being applied to other areas of the company is going toward data centers as well. The company did not disclose which current data centers are being closed or affected by the design changes. "And we are going to optimize our overall approach to building data centers."

☆ Microsoft is chill with employees using ChatGPT — just don’t share ‘sensitive data’ with it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft warned employees against sharing "sensitive data" with ChatGPT. Leaked internal communications revealed that Microsoft's CTO office told employees that using ChatGPT is fine. "Companies and employees are all scrambling to find out the exact rules around using ChatGPT for work." He added: "The interesting thing here is that Microsoft is a big partner and investor of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. In theory, Microsoft stands to gain when ChatGPT collects more data and improves its technology.

☆ Twitter hit back at a private jet company suing it over an $197,000 unpaid bill, saying it was overcharged for 2 flights that weren't properly authorized
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Private Jet Services filed a lawsuit against Twitter over an unpaid bill of nearly $200,000 last December. On Tuesday, Twitter said that the jet company overcharged it and the flights were unauthorized. It also frequently referred in the documents to being billed $194,000 by Private Jet Services, but did not explain the discrepancy in figures. Twitter says that it believes the jet company breached this agreement over "designated representatives," and as such the lawsuit should be dismissed. Private Jet Services and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg declares 2023 'the year of efficiency.' More Meta layoffs could be coming soon.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta laid off over 11,000 employees last year, and there are signs more layoffs could be coming. But Meta's recent earnings release signals there could be more layoffs on the horizon. In the coming year, Meta said it "may incur additional restructuring charges as we progress further in our efficiency efforts." Last week, The Verge reported that Zuckerberg had said during a recent employee Q&A that he didn't want a "management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work" – another sign that layoffs could be eminent for middle managers at Meta. Meta is one of many tech companies to initiate a series of layoffs and cost-cutting moves amid fears of a recession.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg declares 2023 'the year of efficiency.' More Meta layoffs are likely.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Zuckerberg told investors on Wednesday that 2023 will be the "year of efficiency." In November, the Big Tech company laid off more than 11,000 employees — the largest cull in the company's history. During Meta's earnings call, Zuckerberg commented further on the issue of layoffs. Last week, The Verge reported that Zuckerberg had said during a recent employee Q&A that he didn't want a "management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work" – another sign that layoffs could be eminent for middle managers at Meta. Meta is one of many tech companies to initiate a series of layoffs and cost-cutting moves amid fears of a recession.

☆ Workers at Facebook, Snap fear second round of layoffs is on the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Recent comments by CEOs at Meta and Snap have workers bracing for yet another round of cuts. For tech workers who in 2022 saw tens of thousands of colleagues lose their jobs amid a wave of layoffs, this year has brought little besides déjà vu. Fear is spreading among many tech employees that even more layoffs will happen in the coming weeks. Performance reviews are more severe. Snap is another company where employees are starting to suspect another round of layoffs is being considered, if not already on the way.

☆ Snapchat has a plan to start charging users to restore broken Snapstreaks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some users have hundreds, or even thousands, of consecutive days of Snaps with friends on the app. The company is planning to have Snapchat users pay a fee to restore a broken Snapstreak, according to two people familiar with the situation. Many users have Streaks going for more than 100 days and some have streaks for thousands of days. Users frequently go to the Snapchat Support website to try to get their Streaks restored, both of the people said. Snap often does restore a streak at no cost, but it's a process that can take several days, further upsetting users.

☆ A Twitter employee joked that they would write 'stay employed' for their Q3 goals after Elon Musk's takeover, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Twitter worker joked about how to stay employed after Elon Musk bought the firm, per a report. Some staff searched for any indication of layoffs on Musk's Twitter feed, the report said. In the wake of Musk's takeover of Twitter in late October, employees were concerned about job cuts at the company, The Verge reported, citing more than 24 current and former Twitter employees. Another employee replied, saying: "Writes, 'stay employed'," the report said. Since Musk took over Twitter, thousands of employees have either resigned or been fired or laid off, Insider's Kali Hays reported.

☆ Twitter recruiters are keeping busy by reaching out to select former employees Elon Musk laid off
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some Twitter recruiters are getting back to work about three months after Elon Musk's acquisition. Despite being laid off by Musk in his first round of cuts, former employees are being contacted by Twitter recruiters. At least two emails have been sent by Twitter recruiters to laid-off workers with the subject line "Hello from Twitter!," according to messages seen by Insider. That subject line has been used by Twitter recruiters for years in reaching out cold to prospective job candidates, one of the people familiar said. "That's dirty," one former employee said of Twitter recruiters contacting people who worked there only a couple of months ago.

☆ King Charles III's $19 billion real estate firm is taking legal action against Elon Musk's Twitter over unpaid rent
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter faces legal action from the Crown Estate, which manages properties owned by King Charles III. Insider understands that the estate has begun legal proceedings against Twitter over its London offices. King Charles is the ultimately owner of the estate, though has little day-to-day involvement. In December 2022, The New York Times reported that Twitter hadn't paid rent on any of its offices for weeks. The Crown Estate manages $19.2 billion worth of properties including 241 in central London, according to its most recent annual report.

☆ Big Tech's wipeout sends workers scrambling
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Hi, I'm Matt Turner, the editor in chief of business at Insider. Up first: I just returned to New York after a few days in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. It was intense and informative, packed with meetings with business leaders and government ministers from around the world. Davos, Switzerland Hanna Erasmus and EyeEm/Getty ImagesMore than 1,500 business leaders descended on Davos in the Swiss Alps last week. Saumya Khandelwal/Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesIt was a wipeout at Silicon Valley's tech giants this week.

☆ Pay in tech is dropping fast as firms like Microsoft, Snap and more use layoffs and a looming recession to wrest power from workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Pay is getting lower, stock grants smaller and offers, if they come at all, are take it or leave it. In November, Snap employees heard some frank talk from CEO Evan Spiegel on his plans for compensation after enacting a mass layoff a couple of months before. "In general, we've noticed a decrease in pay across the entire tech industry," said Zuhayeer Musa, founder of Levels.fyi, a platform that collects data on tech compensation. Aalap Shah, a managing director at Pearl Meyer who advises tech companies, said he's been expecting such a retreat on pay. An estimated 200,000 tech employees have been laid off since last year, according to Layoffs.fyi, which compiles data on hiring in tech and is not part of Levels.fyi.

☆ A consulting firm is suing Twitter, saying it is owed over $2 million for work it did trying to force through Elon Musk's acquisition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The firm claims it is owed over $2 million for work it did related to forcing through Elon Musk's acquisition. Charles River Associates brought the suit against Twitter in a Massachusetts state court on Thursday, which was first reported by Bloomberg. The companies entered into an agreement in August 2022, and CRA began preliminary work on the materials, court documents say. In the lawsuit, CRA says it sent four invoices to Twitter between September and November 2022 for work totalling $2.19 million, but the social-media company stopped replying to its emails. The companies' contract says the invoices gain 1.5% interest each month, and Twitter hasn't objected to any of the invoices, per the lawsuit.

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