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Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#311

Post by mcguire »

AlexandrB wrote: post #164
duxup wrote: post #19

Twitter now owes about $1 billlion in debit payments per year. Cash flow last year $630 million. I think 25% staff reductions is just a starting point.

I'm constantly shocked that "leveraged buyouts" are a thing. It seems like taking a business and loading it up with debt is a recipe for failure that would introduce a lot of risk for the lender, but banks and other capital holders continue issuing the debt.

It's not intended for the business to continue operating after a leveraged buyout. Leveraged buyouts are typically used where the company has assets that aren't "productive" or is made up of more-or-less independent units that are worth more separate than together.

In these cases, cutting expenses by firing people is usually the first step, since the business' revenue stream can usually continue on autopilot for a while.

I expect Twitter to report record-breaking profits next quarter and Twitter's share price to go up accordingly. Maybe even enough to fill in some of Musk's hole.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#312

Post by encryptluks2 »

lottin wrote: post #265
lotsofpulp wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not providing severance pay at all is perfectly legal. In most cases, an employer will want at least something in return for providing severance pay.

Why do they provide it then? Out of goodwill?

Usually it is advantageous to offer it so that you don't sue them down the road and get more money. A lot of times it is less rewarding to take the first second or third settlement offer than to counter for quadruple what they offer.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#313

Post by fernandotakai »

sangnoir wrote: post #211
caeril wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, by historical Twitter standards it may seem unreasonable to write a Stripe API integration with simple UI and account history in six days. In the real world, however, a single developer can do it in less time than that. Twitter (and really, BigCo in general) engineers are accustomed to their foosball tables, catered meals, wine bars, beer taps, rooftop gaming session, and endless meetings and code reviews. It's…

> In the real world, however, a single developer can do it in less time than that. Which single developer can rollout payments globally in 6 days? How much time do they set aside to ensuring regulatory compliance with dozens of jurisdictions that have occasionally conflicting rules?

twitter already has payment within their systems (super follows + twitter blue).

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#314

Post by mcguire »

duxup wrote: post #183
AlexandrB wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm constantly shocked that "leveraged buyouts" are a thing. It seems like taking a business and loading it up with debt is a recipe for failure that would introduce a lot of risk for the lender, but banks and other capital holders continue issuing the debt.

Yeah the idea that Twitter is now worth more with substantially more debt doesn’t make sense to me.

Before or after bankruptcy?

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#315

Post by simonw »

drstewart wrote: post #73
skhr0680 wrote: post #21

Twitter is already improved IMHO: The "sign in or sign up" nag screen is gone for me!

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/30/23430008/elon-musk-twitt... >He requested that logged out users visiting Twitter.com be redirected to the Explore page that shows trending tweets and news stories, according to employees familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission. Before, visiting Twitter’s homepage while logged out showed only a sign-up form,

Interesting commentary on this from someone who used to work at Twitter:

- https://twitter.com/joshelman/status/1586812933043933184

> Changing the logged out home page of Twitter to show more content is likely one of those “easy fixes” that has symbolic effect but very little to no metrics effect. I ran A/B tests on this in 2010. Usually the best way to grow Twitter active users is make people sign up first

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#316

Post by H8crilA »

drowning-secs wrote: post #297
saurik wrote: post #253

6 months ago it was all painted (maybe seemingly, though, by prior executives who weren't speaking for Musk) as if this wouldn't be a big deal for employees, which to me makes this idea that people are being rapidly fired "for cause" after a suddenly-imposed weekend work shift deadline extra shitty :/. (Even if I do sometimes claim that Twitter is incompetent as an organization or bloated with idle staff, these are h…

You also need to give two months notice, or compensate for two months time, if you're going to have a big layoff. Laying off 50% of employees is also going to add up. 3,500 employees * $20,000 = $70,000,000.

Alternatively you can keep them around for 2 years and pay $840M in compensation.

Closing the sarcasm, yes, layoffs have costs (various costs, including to the morale), but there are reasons why organisations do them anyways.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#317

Post by User23 »

sp332 wrote: post #159
yboris wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it legal to demand people work on weekends? How is it legal to (even threaten) firing if a new assigned task that takes a long time is not done on time?

Even if the firing is legal - and California does have restrictions when a company fires a large number of people at once - arguing that it's "for cause" to withhold severance packages is going to be a lot more difficult.

For the rank and file layoffs yes, you need to have a notice period and those people will probably get severance at least equal to that much pay. But C suite executives are another matter. It’s very likely that Elon Musk received access to information after taking control that supports a for cause dismissal.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#318

Post by viraptor »

jdm2212 wrote: post #172
xnorswap wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the employer can demand whatever they want and fire you for whatever reason they want In the US. I'm glad I work in a country where workers actually have rights.

Everything in life is tradeoffs. American software engineers get paid more than basically anyone else in the world, but we also have less job security. What's preferable just depends on your risk aversion vs marginal utility of money.

American software engineers * in unicorns from SV *. They have their own scale which is not really a national thing. Then you also have to adjust for the cost of living / not included insurances etc.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#320

Post by bradleybuda »

dirheist wrote: post #274
saurik wrote: post #253

6 months ago it was all painted (maybe seemingly, though, by prior executives who weren't speaking for Musk) as if this wouldn't be a big deal for employees, which to me makes this idea that people are being rapidly fired "for cause" after a suddenly-imposed weekend work shift deadline extra shitty :/. (Even if I do sometimes claim that Twitter is incompetent as an organization or bloated with idle staff, these are h…

Those being laid off for cause are the 3 senior level executives (the old CEO, the lead counsel, and the content policy head). Those 3 had a 100+ million cumulative severance package which they are now no longer eligible to receive, although none of them are strapped for cash.

> although none of them are strapped for cash

Does this mean that they have or deserve different rights under contract law than others do? What if their counterparty is even less "strapped for cash"?

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