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☆ A Twitter engineer said it was a 'bummer' to lose her job while 8 months pregnant in Elon Musk's mass layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Twitter employee said it was a "bummer" to get laid off while eight months pregnant. Malabika Das tweeted the same day Elon Musk laid off about half its workforce on November 4. Bummer that this happened while 8 months pregnant. Her tweet came the same day that around 3,700 Twitter staff were told by email that they'd been laid off. That happened to a content marketing manager at Twitter, who was also eight months pregnant at the time, when she got locked out of her company laptop.

☆ It's not just Elon Musk. Tech CEOs everywhere are quietly asking their employees to step it up or risk getting fired.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tech CEOs are turning up the heat, even if it's not as blatantly "hardcore" as Elon Musk's verbiage. Major tech CEOs have been asking employees to step up throughout this year's stingier economy. Employees at Google, Amazon and others have all been asked to work harder or risk their jobs. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. In October, Meta told managers to mark 15% of its employees as "needs support" in what workers dubbed "quiet layoffs," Insider previously reported.

☆ Twitter says it's reinstated an exec who says she was effectively dismissed after she didn't respond to Elon Musk's 'hardcore' ultimatum
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter exec Sinéad McSweeney said she was effectively dismissed for failing to respond to Elon Musk's "hardcore" ultimatum. The company told an Irish court it has reinstated McSweeney as its global VP for public policy. McSweeney said she didn't respond to the email due to confusion around her contract, The Irish Times reported. McSweeney said she didn't respond because of confusion related to her contract of employment, The Irish Times reported. Lawyers for both Twitter and McSweeney didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on whether McSweeney had regained access.

☆ A lawyer for fired Twitter staff says Elon Musk is trying to 'tap-dance' his way out of paying severance, and threatens a 'fun as hell' arbitration campaign
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A lawyer representing laid-off Twitter staff sent a fiery letter to Elon Musk's lawyer, Alex Spiro. Cohen tweeted that he hoped Musk would do the right thing, otherwise "it'll be fun as hell." He accused the world's richest person of "attempting to tap-dance your way out of Twitter's binding obligations to its employees." "If you don't unequivocally confirm by Wednesday, December 7 that you intend to provide our clients with the full severance Twitter promised them, we will commence an arbitration campaign on their behalf," Cohen said. Musk now stands accused by some former Twitter staff of failing to provide the severance package they were promised, as alleged in a previous lawsuit.

☆ A 62-year old engineer alleges he was sidelined at SpaceX over fears that he might 'retire or die'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An engineer alleges he was sidelined at SpaceX over fears he might "retire or die." John Johnson, 62, made the allegations in an essay published on Wednesday on whistleblower site Lioness. John Johnson said he had been the victim of age discrimination at Elon Musk's rocket company in an essay published on Wednesday on the whistleblower website Lioness. In his essay, Johnson wrote that one engineer was asked to shadow him because there were fears he might "retire or die." In his essay Johnson wrote: "As an older white male, I hadn't confronted the impediments to success that many people face—until I started at SpaceX."

☆ Arianna Huffington slams Elon Musk and Sam Bankman-Fried as 'burnout deniers' whose intense approach is actually harming their companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Arianna Huffington rebuked Elon Musk and Sam Bankman-Fried as "burnout deniers." In a Tuesday opinion piece, she suggested Musk's "hardcore" approach is bad for business. Musk's first month as CEO at Twitter has been marred by "stunning missteps, reversals and mass defections," Huffington wrote. Musk revived his "hardcore" language in testing Twitter employees earlier this month. "This will mean working long hours at high intensity," Musk wrote in a late-night email to employees.

☆ Elon Musk is the head of 5 companies that need strong leadership. Instead, he's starting Twitter wars.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk has made headlines for his recent tweets, which include posts about guns and Apple. Critics say the Twitter CEO's use of the platform could further endanger the struggling company. There's also been discord at SpaceX, the rocket company Musk operates. In a story for New York Magazine, Kevin Dugan wrote that Musk is unlikely to change his ways anytime soon. "It's now been a week since Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, and one thing that's clear about his reign is that he will never, ever touch grass."

☆ Elon Musk calls on all Twitter designers, engineers doing software to sit on his floor of HQ for 'dense and intense' work
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk sent another unexpected directive to Twitter employees. Anyone working on software projects is to now sit on his floor of Twitter HQ, according to an email. Musk, who is Twitter's CEO since taking over the company a month ago, oversees Twitter's engineering and software organization closely. He has demanded that Twitter employees work from the office full time, reversing a policy put in place by co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey allowing anyone to work remotely full-time. Many engineers who still work at Twitter had already moved their desk space to the 10th floor in recent days, another person familiar said.

☆ Elon Musk has waged war on Apple, claiming the tech giant "hates free speech"
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

From Elon Musk's war with Apple to the rise and fall of a pharmacy startup, it's a packed edition. Elon Musk is going to war with Apple. The world's wealthiest man slammed the world's biggest tech company, questioning if Apple "hates free speech" and suggesting that it's threatening Twitter's presence in the App Store. According to a book, Cook swore at Musk after he asked to be the CEO of Apple. According to career site Indeed, tech companies Intuit, Google, and Apple offer the most flexibility in terms of where and when employees are expected to work.

☆ Former senior execs say Elon Musk's Boring Company is struggling to retain staff amid culture of long working hours
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk's The Boring Company has struggled to retain employees, former execs told the WSJ. They said Boring Company staff have to work long hours and weekends, similar to Musk's other firms. Staff at The Boring Company are known to work long hours and weekends, the former executives said. Tesla and SpaceX workers have described grueling working conditions to meet Musk's company goals. The Boring Company didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal US operating hours.

☆ A former Facebook exec says an employee at a 'large tech company' once complained to the CEO in an all-hands meeting about the quality of company toilet paper
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former Facebook exec tweeted that an employee once complained to a 'large tech' CEO about the quality of the toilet paper during an all-hands meeting. His tweet came on the same day Elon Musk told Twitter employees to quit if they can't commit to working long hours. The tweet reflects a growing belief among tech execs that employees have become too lazy. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. Former Facebook and PayPal executive David Marcus tweeted that an employee once complained about the quality of a company's toilet paper during an all-hands meeting.

☆ A self-driving-car developer who tweeted support for the 'extremely hardcore' culture at Twitter says he has a 12-week internship to improve its search quality
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A self-driving-car developer and hacker tweeted that he's doing a 12-week internship at Twitter. Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, replied: "Sure, let's talk." Hotz replied, "Cool, my phone number hasn't changed," and added that he's "not the guy" if Musk wanted "long term stability." Before offering to do the internship, Hotz asked how people on Twitter felt about "the quality of Twitter search" and what it would take for people to ditch Google for searching on Twitter. Hotz replied that it was "true" and that he would "look into if there's some easy way to improve this."

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☆ Elon Musk says Twitter is recruiting just weeks after laying off half the company's staff
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk shared slides from a Twitter company presentation online. Since Musk bought Twitter, its workforce has shrunk by around three quarters through layoffs, resignations, and firings. The next week Musk started laying off staff, with around half of the company's workforce being cut. But two days later, on Wednesday night, several dozen more Twitter workers – mostly engineers – were fired for performance reasons. The slide from Musk's presentation to company staff doesn't say which roles the company is hiring for.

☆ I got fired from Twitter the day before Thanksgiving. I was pro-Musk but it didn't save me.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Engineer Ikuhiro Ihara was fired from Twitter the night before Thanksgiving. Before I was fired, I was the tech lead for the Twitter home timeline modeling team. When Musk took over Twitter, I was actually excitedI believed Twitter was – and may still be – on a path to a slow death. The "reviews" ended up being a team-wide presentation of what each team does – and it took Musk until midnight to make it to my team. I really wanted to witness how Musk will operate and change the course of Twitter 2.0, but I was just an employee.

☆ A Twitter executive said she's been working more than 75 hours a week because Elon Musk fired so many people
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Twitter exec said she worked more than 75 hours a week since Elon Musk took over, per Irish Times. She said Musk was leading Twitter "in an unorthodox manner" and giving staff "mixed messages." Sinead McSweeney said in a statement to a High Court in Ireland that her working hours soared to more than 75 in a week since the billionaire took over. The vice-president, who has worked at Twitter for more than a decade, said she regularly works more than 40 hours per week as required by her employment contract. Musk has given staff "mixed messages" and is leading the organization "in an unorthodox manner," McSweeney said, according to the report.

☆ A look back at Elon Musk's chaotic first month at Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Sunday officially marks one month since the world’s richest man took the helm at Twitter. After spending months embroiled in an unsuccessful legal battle to get out of his initial proposal to buy Twitter, Musk made his first splashy entrance into the company’s offices on Oct. 26, carrying a sink. (In a video of the incident shared on Twitter, he wrote: “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!) In another dramatic move by the new boss, Musk publicly fired a software engineer who had survived the initial round of cuts, but who then questioned Musk on Twitter. Musk goes onto to grant ‘amnesty’ to most previously banned accountsAfter conducting yet another Twitter poll, Musk said on Nov. 24 that he will begin restoring most previously banned accounts on Twitter starting next week.

☆ See the slides Elon Musk used for his company talk on Twitter 2.0, including graphs saying signups and active minutes are at an all-time high
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk on Saturday shared slides he said were from a Twitter company talk he delivered. Musk shared a series of slides he said were from a Twitter company talk he delivered. The slides also listed features and goals Musk has for Twitter 2.0, including long-form tweets, encrypted DMs, and "advertising as entertainment." Musk and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment or additional details about the company talk he said the slides were used for. He previously shared some details of his vision for Twitter 2.0, which he described as "extremely hardcore," Insider's Kali Hays reported.

☆ Laid-off Twitter staff posted goodbye messages with #LoveWhereYouWork, a hashtag started by a colleague when she was given just a few weeks to live
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Lucy Mosley, a UK-based Twitter employee, started the hashtag after a cancer diagnosis in 2013. It has since been used by dozens of Twitter staff who were laid off in recent weeks to say farewell. One sent an email to the whole UK office asking if anyone could knit. The next day she tweeted an image of herself wearing the blanket with a caption saying "keeping cozy with my @TwitterUK @Twitter blanket," alongside the hashtags #LoveWhereYouWork and #Family. As Twitter started opening more offices around the world, other staff members said they also wanted to do the same.

☆ Elon Musk told a Twitter executive he 'didn't want assholes' on his team, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter's public policy VP had a phone call about job cuts with Elon Musk, the Irish Times reported. Sinead McSweeney said in a court statement that Musk said he "didn't want assholes" at Twitter. She said Musk told her fired staff could be reinstated if they're "not negative" or "excellent". McSweeney was told by Musk that fired staff who were "excellent" should be reinstated, per the report, as long as they are "not negative" and perform in a "critical role." The executive, who also leads the company's philanthropic efforts globally, was "temporarily reassured" by Musk's comments but learned two days later that the public policy team would be reduced by a fifth, according to the Irish Times report.

☆ About 1,400 Twitter workers have joined Blind since Elon Musk took over
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

More than 1,400 Twitter employees signed up to Blind in the past month, its co-founder told Insider. In the past month more than 1,400 Twitter employees signed up to Blind, its co-founder Kyum Kim told Insider. Kim previously told Insider that it had seen "much more usage" this month following mass layoffs in the tech sector. Kim, who is also Blind's chief business officer, told Insider that about 3,000 Meta staff signed up the day before Mark Zuckerberg announced 11,000 job cuts. He also said more than 7,000 Meta employees joined Blind in the first two weeks of November alone and that 64,000 Meta staff members are now on the site.

☆ Microsoft raised the bar for Windows PCs with its Surface computers, despite low share after a decade
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

In 2012, the Surface with Windows RT, later named Surface RT, was more than just a touchscreen slab like Apple's iPad. The inaugural Surface, the Surface RT running Windows RT, boasted clever physical attributes. Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro Source: Microsoft.comIn 2013 Microsoft brought out the Surface RT's more expensive and more powerful sibling, the Surface Pro. He bought a Surface Pro 3 and then a Surface Pro 7. If someone buys the Surface Pro 7 for a good price, he'll upgrade to the Surface Pro 9, which has a larger display.

☆ A Twitter executive has won a court injunction stopping Elon Musk from firing her, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sinead McSweeney didn't resign but was locked out from company systems, the Irish Times reported. McSweeney said she was "unable to work" or get into the Dublin office and had to seek an injunction. A High Court judge granted McSweeney a temporary injunction on Friday to stop Twitter from terminating her contract and applying Musk's conditions from the ultimatum email to her employment status. The Twitter executive was left humiliated and upset after being locked out of Twitter's systems, email and the Dublin office. Lawyers representing McSweeney wrote to Twitter, which accepted that she didn't plan to resign, according to the report.

☆ Meet the Netflix exec who's leading its disruptive new ads business strategy — and could be CEO one day
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Lucia Moses | Elaine Low | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Peters is a longtime Netflix exec who's quietly led its expansion overseas and into gaming. And the executive tapped to lead the charge is chief operating officer Greg Peters, who's long been the company's go-to for new business ventures. Joining Netflix in 2008 as chief streaming and partnerships officer, Peters quickly stood out as a rising star. The ads tier could also help Netflix with its expansion overseas, where its results have been uneven so far, Mahaney said. Peters played a key role in getting Netflix's creative execs on board with the ads business, one Hollywood insider noted.

☆ How FTX's implosion put crypto news sites like CoinDesk, The Block, and Decrypt in the spotlight as they work to fend off an ad slump and conspiracy theories about their coverage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Reed Alexander | Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Crypto news sites like CoinDesk, The Block, and Decrypt have dominated coverage of the FTX implosion. Now, crypto media staffers are wondering whether more dominoes falling from FTX could further hurt the industry or cripple their ad revenues. "We cover the good, the bad and the ugly," Dan Roberts, the editor-in-chief of Decrypt, told Insider. "In general, I think these things are good for crypto media," he said. Stacy-Marie Ishmael, the managing editor for Bloomberg's crypto team, likened burgeoning crypto coverage to 1990s coverage of the Internet.

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