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☆ Someone projected insults onto Twitter's San Francisco headquarters calling Elon Musk a 'space Karen' and a 'mediocre manchild'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Someone projected insults aimed at Elon Musk on the side of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters Thursday. The insults called the app's new CEO a "worthless billionaire," and a "mediocre manchild." Twitter employees were given an ultimatum to either take severance pay or work under Musk's new "hardcore" vision for Twitter. The message also called Musk a "worthless billionaire," a "mediocre manchild," and a "supreme parasite," among a host of other insults. A separate messages beamed onto the building said: "Elon Musk STFU," "#StopToxicTwitter" and "Musk's hellscape."

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - James Murdoch, a Tesla director, said on Wednesday CEO Elon Musk has in the last few months identified someone as a potential successor to head the electric carmaker. Murdoch, who did not name the potential successor, was testifying in a trial over Musk's 2018 Tesla pay package. When a plaintiff's lawyer asked him to confirm that Musk has never identified someone as a potential successor CEO, Murdoch said, "He actually has," adding that happened in the "last few months." MONITORING TESLA SITUATIONMurdoch also said Tesla's audit committee is monitoring the Twitter situation, saying that the committee had discussions about having some Tesla engineers do work at Twitter. He also said Musk asked a few team heads to see if they were people interested in helping Twitter.

☆ Elon Musk mocks Twitter staff fired for criticizing him, saying 'these geniuses' will 'no doubt be of great use elsewhere'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk on Tuesday used a sarcastic tweet to mock Twitter staff he'd fired for criticizing him. Several employees were reportedly fired after criticizing Musk on internal chats and Twitter itself. In a follow-up tweet Tuesday, Musk wrote: "Important to admit when I'm wrong & firing them was truly one of my biggest mistakes." This week, Musk posted a since-deleted tweet saying Eric Frohnhoefer, a Twitter software engineer, had been fired after Frohnhoefer tweeted criticism of Musk. Two other engineers said they'd been fired within 24 hours of criticizing Musk.

Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta sued Musk and the board in 2018 and hopes to prove that Musk used his dominance over the electric vehicle maker's board to dictate terms of the package, which did not require him to work at Tesla full-time. In one clip, Musk dismissed the idea that the board should have discussed requiring that he spend more time with Tesla. He apologized from the stand to a British diver who he called "pedo guy" in a tweet and who sued Musk for defamation. The disputed Tesla package allows Musk to buy 1% of Tesla's stock at a deep discount each time escalating performance and financial targets are met. The Musk case survived a motion to dismiss because it was determined he might be considered a controlling shareholder, which means stricter rules apply.

"He's probably going to spend more time on Twitter than any Tesla investor feels comfortable about." Sales of Musk's own Tesla shares - totaling $20 billion since he disclosed his Twitter stake - have added to the pressure. "I think he's finally reached a point where he's really challenging himself. 'MINIMAL TIME'The Tesla board has expressed concerns about Musk's commitment to SpaceX and several smaller companies. So I think Tesla would continue to do very well even if I was kidnapped by aliens or went back to my home planet maybe."

☆ Elon Musk says free employee lunches at Twitter HQ were costing more than $400 per meal because 'almost no one' was in the office
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk said Sunday that free staff lunches at Twitter HQ were costing more than $400 per meal. He said badge-in records at the San Francisco office showed average occupancy below 10%. Musk was tweeting Sunday after The New York Times reported that Twitter employees would have to start paying for office lunches themselves. Twitter spends $13 million a year on food service at its San Francisco HQ, Musk said. Musk was challenged on his $400 meal cost estimate by Tracy Hawkins, a former Twitter employee.

☆ Elon Musk floats bankruptcy as a possibility, demands 'hardcore' culture in first meeting with Twitter employees
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Grace Kay | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk brought up bankruptcy as a possibility in a meeting with Twitter staff, people present said. At the meeting, Musk said Twitter staff will be expected to "perform hardcore." It took place after Musk earlier that morning sent Twitter staff an email, his first company-wide communication since he took over almost two weeks ago. Robin Wheeler, who Musk tasked with leading advertising at Twitter, just left the company, a person familiar told Insider. Are you a Twitter employee or someone else with insight to share?

☆ The Twitter manager who went viral for sleeping on the floor of company HQ survived Elon Musk's layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The manager who went viral for sleeping at Twitter's headquarters survived Elon Musk's layoffs, sources told Insider. Last week, a Twitter employee posted a photo of Esther Crawford in a sleeping bag at the office. Previously, the company had offered Twitter Blue for $2.99 per month as a service that would allow users to access special features like editing tweets or reducing ads. "The Twitter team is legendary. The Information reported last week that the manager "appears to be rising in prominence" at Twitter since Musk completed his purchase.

☆ Elon Musk bans impersonation without parody label on Twitter raising questions about free speech commitment
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Muhammed Selim Korkutata | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesAfter several celebrity and blue-check verified Twitter users changed their accounts to mimic the social network's new owner Elon Musk, he called for a swift change to policy enforcement. Musk wrote on Sunday that, moving forward, Twitter will now permanently suspend impersonators' accounts without warning if they are not clearly labeled as parody. In May, after he agreed to buy Twitter, Musk argued against lifetime bans and said he would reverse one on Donald Trump. The platform would not usually jump to a permanent ban of a user's account for impersonation prior to Musk's takeover. Twitter and Elon Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment or confirmation as to whether Sommer and Griffin were permanently banned.

☆ Musk's Twitter updates app to start charging $8 for blue checkmark
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Rhea Binoy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoNov 5 (Reuters) - Twitter on Saturday updated its app in Apple's App Store to begin charging $8 for sought-after blue check verification marks, in Elon Musk’s first major revision of the social media platform. The change comes a week after Musk took over the social media company in a $44 billion deal. It was not immediately clear how or if Twitter planned to verify the identity of the user beyond charging a fee. Twitter Blue will roll out in India in "hopefully less than a month," Musk tweeted in reply to a question from a follower. As of Saturday, the update to Twitter Blue remained at the old price of $4.99.

☆ Twitter launches $8 monthly subscription with blue checkmark
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoNov 5 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc on Saturday launched a subscription service for its social media platform for $8 a month that includes the blue checkmark "verified" badge, offering an updated version on Apple’s App Store. In an update to Apple iOS devices, Twitter said those who "sign up now" can receive the sought-after blue checkmark next to their user names, "just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow." A blue check mark next to a person's user name means Twitter has confirmed that the account belongs to the person or company claiming it. Twitter's update said the new service with verification will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. However, according to a tweet from Twitter's early stage products executive Esther Crawford on Saturday, the new Twitter Blue service is available but has not yet gone live.

The groups said on Friday they are escalating their pressure and demanding brands pull their Twitter ads globally. Staff who worked in engineering, communications, product, content curation and machine learning ethics were among those impacted by the layoffs, according to tweets from Twitter staff. Shannon Raj Singh, an attorney who was Twitter's acting head of human rights, tweeted on Friday that the entire human rights team at the company had been cut. Musk tweeted that his team had made no changes to content moderation and done "everything we could" to appease the groups. Employees of Twitter Blue, the premium subscription service that Musk is bolstering, were also let go.

☆ A Twitter software engineer who created cartoons poking fun at his own company says he was fired because he's a 'troublemaker'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Twitter software engineer said he was fired on Tuesday, just days after Elon Musk took control. Twitter HR last year asked him to take down cartoons he tweeted and published internally. Emmanuel Cornet, who is also known as Manu, joined Twitter last year as a software engineer after leaving Google, where he spent a decade poking fun at the company with his satirical cartoons. Cornet believed it was very unlikely that Twitter fired him for poor performance: "I hope those never come or remain minimal, but the 'poor performance' layoffs haven't started yet." The software engineer gave his cartoon to Elon Musk, to which the billionaire reportedly responded: "Well I bought it anyway."

☆ Some Twitter workers are calling Elon Musk's advisers 'Elon's goons,' a report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk has been outlining plans to overhaul Twitter, assisted by his inner circle. Some Twitter workers have been calling his advisers "Elon's goons," the New York Times reported. Musk's plans include overhauling Twitter's verification process and potentially rebooting Vine. Current and former Twitter workers have been sending each other private messages in the midst of mounting uncertainty at the company, with some staff calling Musk's advisors "Elon's goons," The New York Times reported. Many Twitter staff are concerned about their job security and are scrambling to complete tasks assigned by Musk's team so they can keep hold of their jobs.

☆ Twitter staff have been told to work 84-hour weeks and managers slept at the office over the weekend as they scramble to meet Elon Musk's tight deadlines, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter managers have told some staff work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, CNBC reported. Some managers told The New York Times they slept at Twitter's office on Friday and Saturday nights. Twitter managers have told some staff to work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week — equivalent to 84 hours a week — to meet Musk's deadlines, CNBC reported, citing internal communications. Insider previously reported that Musk's team assigned some of Twitter's engineers coding projects to work on over the weekend, known as sprints. Some Twitter managers told the publication that they felt like they were being assessed.

☆ Elon Musk spent the weekend creating plans with his inner circle to lay off 25% of Twitter's staff, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk plans to lay off around a quarter of Twitter's staff, The Washington Post reported. His team, led by Alex Spiro, and remaining Twitter senior execs spent the weekend crafting plans, per The Post. Musk's team also assigned some of Twitter's engineers projects to work on over the weekend. Insider reported that there was a sense among workers that some of their recent tasks were a test by Musk's team to see who works hard. A person familiar with the deal told The Post that Musk is more likely to lay off around half of Twitter's staff.

☆ Joe Rogan praises Elon Musk for wanting to bring a 'reasonable exchange of ideas' back to Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Joe Rogan praised Elon Musk's Twitter takeover in his latest podcast with comedian Bridget Phetasy. He said Musk wants to bring back a "reasonable exchange of ideas" and thinks "this is important." In his latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, he speaks with writer and comedian Bridget Phetasy about Musk's $44 billion deal. Rogan said it was important that Musk wanted to restore a "reasonable exchange of ideas" on Twitter, and notable coming from someone who is "that wealthy" and had been "left-leaning most of his life." Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told Fox News: "I think Elon Musk buying Twitter is one of the most significant developments for free speech in modern times."

☆ Elon Musk manages free speech versus 'hellscape' at Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The pressure is mounting on Musk and Twitter as he is set to address the Twitter staff on Friday after closing the deal. Fewer than 10% of 266 Twitter employees who participated in a poll on messaging app Blind expected to still have their jobs in three months. Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter. Twitter, Musk and the executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. As news of the deal spread, some Twitter users were quick to flag their willingness to walk away.

☆ Inside Elon Musk's first day as leader of Twitter: Cancelled meetings, fake layoffs, orders to print out code, and a team of Musk advisers camped out in a separate part of the company's HQ.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Twitter employees predicted chaos after Elon Musk took over the company. Musk entered Twitter's San Francisco HQ carrying a bathroom sink, a joke about his ownership "sinking in." Meanwhile, engineers from Tesla were in Twitter's San Francisco office, some meeting individually with Twitter engineers, asking them about their work and some technical aspects of the platform. Musk worked on Friday at Twitter's San Francisco HQ with a small team he brought in to assist him in taking over the operations, people familiar with the matter said. Later in the day, he said "comedy is now legal on Twitter" and then separately tweeted an apparent joke about the two men who faked being laid off Twitter engineers.

☆ Elon Musk completes $44 bln acquisition of Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) late on Thursday and his first move was to fire the social media company's top leadership which he accused of misleading him over the number of spam accounts on the platform. Musk terminated Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter. Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter's San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, the sources added. Twitter, Musk and the executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Christian SchmollingerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Elon Musk is now officially Twitter's new owner, ending months of costly litigation
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Kali Hays | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter and Musk fought for months over his attempt to back out of the acquisition. A Delaware judge gave the two parties an October 28 deadline to come to a deal outside of court. Musk made a U-turn on the offer in October, after spending months trying to pull out of the agreement. Representatives for Twitter and Musk did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Twitter promptly sued him in Delaware Court of Chancer.

☆ Elon Musk's first move as Twitter's new owner has been to fire at least 4 top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk fired at least four top Twitter executives after becoming the platform's new owner. The execs include CEO Parag Agrawal, COO Ned Segal, legal and policy head Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett. The executives fired include CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, top legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett. At least one of the fired executives was seen escorted out of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, per the sources. The same evening, Musk also ousted CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal, sources previously told Insider.

☆ Twitter staff react to Elon Musk's takeover: 'I am fully expecting him to fire 69% of us on Friday at 4:20 p.m.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter employees have expressed fear about their jobs after Elon Musk sealed his takeover deal. Musk has reportedly sacked CEO Parag Agrawal and three other top Twitter executives. The billionaire, who's the world's richest person, has fired at least four top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, Insider and others reported Thursday. It was during this hour-long coffee meeting with about 40 Twitter employees that Musk denied the 75% layoffs figure, according to Bloomberg. Other Twitter employees used the #OneTeam hashtag to express solidarity.

☆ As Elon Musk takes over Twitter, free speech limits tested
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The pressure is mounting on Musk and Twitter as he is set to address the Twitter staff on Friday after closing the deal. Fewer that 10% of 266 Twitter employees who participated in a poll on messaging app Blind expected to still have their jobs in three months. Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter. Twitter, Musk and the executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. As news of the deal spread, some Twitter users were quick to flag their willingness to walk away.

☆ On Elon Musk's first day in charge of Twitter, he's already cutting jobs. Executives were first, but employees are arguing and speculating over whether broader layoffs are happening, too.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

On Friday morning, workers speculated about broader layoffs and argued over Slack whether job cuts are happening or not, people familiar with the situation told Insider. A video from Reuters Live showing people leaving Twitter's San Francisco office and saying they were laid off Twitter engineers. Twitter workers went back and forth on the company Slack about whether layoffs were happening. One worker speculated that changes in access at another Twitter office meant that layoffs were real. Another speculated that since workers in another office had been allowed to continue using lockers, layoffs were not happening, according to screenshots seen by Insider.

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