Twitter employees are suffering from “exhaustion” due to a combination of the drawn-out acquisition effort of SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, combined with the wider economic downturn threatening to cause headcount cuts at the company, according to an employee of the tech giant who spoke to Axios.
“People are just exhausted,” said one Twitter employee in a comment to Axios. “It can be conflicting because as a shareholder you’re happy but as an employee, there’s a lot of uncertainty.”
According to Axios, the source said that the extended takeover battle, which has ended up in court, has made it difficult to discuss long-term deals with clients and vendors.
The report cited analysis showing Twitter is struggling to generate revenue from its new products, with its in-app purchase options generating just $650,000 in revenue on iOS and Android since October 2021.
A report last week revealed that Elon Musk planned to slash Twitter’s headcount by three-quarters if he takes over the company, while Twitter was already independently planning massive payroll cuts independently of Musk.
No matter the outcome of the prospective Musk purchase, it seems that staff cuts are on the horizon for the company amid a wider downturn in the tech industry.
In its report on the planned cuts for Twitter, the Washington Post worried that they would potentially “[cripple] the service’s ability to combat misinformation, hate speech and spam.”
The prospect of Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” taking over Twitter has caused wide alarm among those who believe tech companies should police the opinions of their users.
Cuts continue at other tech companies, as the tech industry’s fortunes continue to go sideways. Facebook recently announced a hiring freeze, while Amazon plans to close all but one of its U.S.-based customer call centers.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.