Musk’s longtime associates David Sacks and Jason Calcanis appeared at a company directory over the weekend, according to photos obtained by The Washington Post. Both had official company emails and their titles were “staff software engineer”. Musk’s title on the board was CEO, although that position has not been publicly announced. He refers to himself as “Chief Twit”.
Meanwhile, the team was deciding on what is expected to be the first round of layoffs, which will target roughly a quarter of the staff that number more than 7,000, according to one of the people. The layoffs will affect nearly all departments and are expected to specifically affect sales, product, engineering, legal and trust and security in the coming days, the person said. After engineers, some of Twitter’s highest-paid employees work in sales, where some earn more than $300,000, according to documents seen by The Post.
Twitter, Musk, Spiro, Sacks and Calcanis did not respond to requests for comment.
Billionaire owner Tesla bought Twitter for $44 billion last week after months of arduous negotiations and legal wrangling. Musk first made an offer for the company in the spring, then tried to pull out months later. Twitter sued to force him to end the deal, and eventually the entrepreneur agreed and offered to buy the company for the price of his original offer.
Musk has turned to some old allies as he begins his Twitter revamp.
Sacks, a conservative man and donor, has worked with Musk since their days running PayPal together two decades ago. Sacks has posted strong ideas about moderating online content and criticized censorship by Big Tech.
Calcanis is also a longtime friend of Musk’s, who frequently texted him to offer advice on the deal, including job cuts, court records showed.
Calacanis posted on Twitter that Saturday was “Day Zero” along with a photo of a coffee mug on Twitter, adding that he had discussed security issues, along with bots and trolls, with Yoel Roth, a Twitter executive responsible for policy content moderation. Roth then posted details about those policies.
On Sunday, Musk posted apparently internal messages from Roth about the Twitter metrics, arguing they show Twitter’s board and lawyers “deliberately hid … evidence from the court.” The tweet showed Musk using his newfound access to inside information to potentially sway the results.
I met Yoel from twitter security today, and as a long time twitter user, I was impressed by his dedication and perspective on security issues.
I asked him to unpack the issue directly to the user. This topic is worth your time and reinforcement. https://t.co/ocoBjflOqM
— [email protected] (@Jason) October 30, 2022
The new leadership team is asking questions about every aspect of the business, including the details of content moderation, spam and the risks of the upcoming election, the people said.
Another Musk associate who tweeted about his involvement, Sriram Krishnan, a cryptocurrency-focused partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also tweeted that he was helping with the deal. The firm invested $400 million.
Less than three days into Musk’s ownership, Twitter employees were left in the dark about any new plans for the company as of Sunday night, according to multiple employees contacted by The Post who spoke on condition of anonymity. protect their jobs. The company has yet to issue an official announcement about the acquisition. The communications department has been silent. Rumors have been swirling about layoffs, with some announcements made quietly.
The layoffs are expected to begin before Nov. 1, when Twitter employees will receive additional compensation related to stock grants. Musk tweeted on Sunday that reports of impending layoffs at Twitter next week were “false.”
Earlier this year, Musk told potential deal partners that he planned to cut nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s total workforce, which would leave the company with about 2,000 employees, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Post. Musk last week told employees when he visited Twitter’s headquarters that he had no plans to cut three-quarters of the workforce.
Another person familiar with the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters last week, said the total number of layoffs is likely to be closer to 50 percent.
Already, Musk has fired four senior executives, sent Tesla engineers to evaluate Twitter’s software code and tweeted that he plans to form an expert council on content moderation.
Meanwhile, illustrating the difficulties of his new task, Musk tweeted content from a site known to publish misinformation this weekend.
On Saturday, Hillary Clinton, former first lady and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, posted a tweet blasting Republicans for spreading “hate and crazy conspiracy theories” that she said had emboldened the man who attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, inside the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday.
Musk wrote, in a reply to the tweet, that “There’s a small possibility there may be more to this story than meets the eye,” sharing a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer, a site described by the controllers of facts as a low-credibility source that favors the extreme right. The article claims, without evidence, that Paul Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute, referring to a conspiracy theory that had previously been floated on the right. Other right-wing influencers with whom Musk interacted online also reinforced the conspiracy narrative.
The actions of Musk, who has since removed the tweet, indicate that Twitter has a tricky road ahead, especially in navigating Musk’s public actions and comparing that to what he says privately.
Rachel Lerman contributed to this report.
