Twitter Cuts More Staff as Revenue Trails Expectations

Given the amount of staff cuts at Twitter, you would think that it must be close the brink at this stage, right?

To recap, when Elon Musk took over Twitter in October last year, the company had around 7,500 staff, along with a range of contractors in various moderation centers around the world. As a first order of business, Musk went about culling roles, reportedly cutting 50% of staff in early November, followed by more reductions and rationalizations, which included slashing contract staff in the thousands as well.

By January, following various other sackings and reviews, Musk claimed that Twitter’s headcount was down to around 2,300 staff in total – a reduction of around 70%.

That seems drastic – say what you want about Silicon Valley excess, but surely losing more than 5,000 staff has to have an impact.

But Twitter is still running. Sure, there have been some hiccups along the way, and things aren’t running as smoothly as they should. But they are still running, and that, apparently, has emboldened Musk and Co. to cut even more staff over the weekend, with Twitter 2.0 reportedly eliminating another 50 roles, including Musk loyalists and various engineers.

The most surprising was Twitter Payments chief Esther Crawford, who has been an active supporter of Musk’s reformations at the app. Crawford now joins the long list of former Twitter staff moving on from the company, which continues to fly closer and closer to the sun, in line with Musk’s high stakes management style.