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Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

techcrunch.com

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Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#61

Post by [deleted] »

DeusExMachina wrote: post #47
addicted wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By nearly every measure Twitter is doing a lot worse than it was before those people were fired. It was growing in revenues and profit and since then has shrunk drastically in both measures. Now one could reasonably argue that it wasn’t due to the firing. However, the burden of proof lies with the people claiming that the concurrent loss of revenue and profit had nothing to do with the firings. And Twitter being a pr…

> By nearly every measure Twitter is doing a lot worse > And Twitter being a private company it’s unlikely anyone can ever get the data support that claim So, only the data supporting your point of view is reliable?

[deleted]

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#62

Post by kelnos »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #56
user90131313 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

twitter fired a lot more % and it's still working

It is actually quite remarkable that Twitter has kept functioning at a technical level. A lot of people expected the massive loss of engineering talent to doom them, but it seemingly hasn't. However, the site is going through a serious cultural (maybe you could say spiritual) death, and that might have something to do with the lost institutional knowledge of what made Twitter tick at a level deeper than just the code…

I'm skeptical, honestly. Within the first few months of the acquisition, it seemed pretty clear to my tech-friend group that Twitter was on its way out and was going to fail. But it's been 2 years, and many of those same people still use Twitter quite a lot. Maybe it'll still fail, of course... it'll just take longer than anyone expected.

I was never a big fan of it, and never used it much, so I can't judge any loss of quality over the past 2 years. And since they now require a login most of the time, and I don't feel like logging in, I don't bother clicking through links to Twitter that people post.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#63

Post by krona »

addicted wrote: post #42
user90131313 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

twitter fired a lot more % and it's still working

By nearly every measure Twitter is doing a lot worse than it was before those people were fired. It was growing in revenues and profit and since then has shrunk drastically in both measures. Now one could reasonably argue that it wasn’t due to the firing. However, the burden of proof lies with the people claiming that the concurrent loss of revenue and profit had nothing to do with the firings. And Twitter being a pr…

From the 2019 annual report (one of the only years where Twitter posted any net profit):

> We have incurred significant operating losses in the past, and we may not be able to maintain profitability. Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses, and, as of December 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.45 billion. Our revenue has grown from $664.9 million in 2013 to $3.04 billion in 2018. While we were profitable on a GAAP basis in 2018, we believe that our future revenue growth and our ability to maintain profitability will depend on, among other factors, our ability to attract new users, increase user engagement and ad engagement, increase our brand awareness, compete effectively, maximize our sales efforts, demonstrate a positive return on investment for advertisers, and successfully develop new products and services. *Accordingly, you should not rely on the revenue growth of any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future performance.*

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#64

Post by TavsiE9s »

fvrghl wrote: post #51
closewith wrote: post #37

TIL Pocket Casts is an Automattic product. Anyone have recommendations to switch (and not to the disaster that is Overcast)?

What is bad about overcast?

Could be the redesign that was launched a couple of months ago that still some folks seem to dislike.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#65

Post by ChocolateGod »

killingtime74 wrote: post #48
ChocolateGod wrote: post #11

I hope the legal team isn't included as part of that 159 employees, because god forbid they'll be needed.

Generally the "real work" is outsourced (briefed out), in house legal only manages the work. In house lawyers don't have the day to day experience of dedicated trial lawyers.

Any professional outsourced lawyer would be telling the client to shut up on talking about the case on a public forum and incriminating themselves.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#66

Post by oxfordmale »

user90131313 wrote: post #31
Maro wrote: post #23

8.4% or 159 employees is a lot of people, this will be long-remember at this company. On the other hand, most companies easily have at least 20% headcount overhead, so it'll be okay.

twitter fired a lot more % and it's still working

Define working.

It's is currently on a path of slow but steady decline. It is no longer useful for breaking news and it is full with Only Fans tweets.

However, if you want to read about Elon Musk or are into right wing conspiracy theories, it is still perfect.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#67

Post by kelnos »

sofixa wrote: post #3
physicsguy wrote: post #2

6 months salary offer means people will take this whether they agree or not

Especially if they were already looking for a way out / unsure if they want to stay. And the person who accepted 6 months salary/$30k to leave the job he started two days prior... Bravo, that's efficiency.

> And the person who accepted 6 months salary/$30k to leave the job he started two days prior...

I would expect you have to have been there for X months or Y years already in order to be given the deal. Unless Mullenweg is really that desperate to get rid of anyone who doesn't agree with his hissy fit.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#68

Post by tyingq »

> In a blog post, Mullenweg said the package offered $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever is higher, but the employees who took it would not be eligible to be re-hired by Automattic.

Like never eligible? That seems kind of petty. I would understand some timeframe, like "not eligible for 3/4/5 years", but a permanent ban seems weird.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#69

Post by kelnos »

hashtag-til wrote: post #9
pavlov wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would assume most Automattic employees are paid substantially more than $60k / year, so few people will be getting only 30k. At least in big American cities, $60k is a bus driver's salary.

> $60k is a bus driver's salary. ...yearly salary

Right. Which is twice the 6-month minimum value (aka a yearly salary) Automattic is giving people if they want to leave.

Re: Some Automattic employees accept severance package offer

#70

Post by pavlov »

krona wrote: post #63
addicted wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By nearly every measure Twitter is doing a lot worse than it was before those people were fired. It was growing in revenues and profit and since then has shrunk drastically in both measures. Now one could reasonably argue that it wasn’t due to the firing. However, the burden of proof lies with the people claiming that the concurrent loss of revenue and profit had nothing to do with the firings. And Twitter being a pr…

From the 2019 annual report (one of the only years where Twitter posted any net profit): > We have incurred significant operating losses in the past, and we may not be able to maintain profitability. Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses, and, as of December 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.45 billion. Our revenue has grown from $664.9 million in 2013 to $3.04 billion in 2018…

This is standard boilerplate that every public company puts in their official statements to pre-empt any shareholder lawsuits in case something goes wrong.

Imagine if a company told its investors: “Our growth is guaranteed! Nothing can affect our revenue and margins.” The only companies that give that kind of promises are ponzis (and to-the-moon cryptocurrency projects, which is not categorically too different).

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