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Topics: News
Emma Guinness
Elon Musk's recent takeover of Twitter has been far from smooth sailing - from the chaotic introduction of Twitter Blue to mass staff layoffs.
Now, the Telsa founder has appeared to mock the hundreds of Twitter employees he just laid off last week in a tweet posted on Sunday (26 February).
"Hope you have a good Sunday. First day of the rest of your life," he wrote.
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As reported by various news outlets, another 50 to 200 staff lost their jobs at Twitter, with The New York Times stating this number was closer to 200 - equating to 10% of the company's remaining 2,000 staff.
What makes this particular batch of layoffs so shocking is that it included employees who have supported the billionaire in his troubled takeover of the platform, including payments chief Esther Crawford.
She recently hit the headlines after sleeping at a Twitter office and encouraging others to go above and beyond to get the job done.
Alongside a picture of herself sleeping Crawford tweeted: "When you need something from your boss at Elon twitter [sic]."
The former Twitter employee added in a subsequent tweet: "When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #SleepWhereYouWork."
Workplace journalist Zoë Schiffer added that the layoffs also included the newsletter platform Revue, which was acquired by the social media website in 2021.
Following these announcements, Musk went on to offer some new incentives to his remaining staff, who said were 'highly regarded by those around them'.
They will allegedly be receiving 'performance-based stock and compensation' while they continue to work at the company.
Musk's apparent dig at the employees he did let go of did not go unnoticed on Twitter itself.
Writer Craig Grannell questioned how many employees were even left at the company, writing: "All five of them?"
As reported by The Guardian, prior to Musk's takeover, the company had a global workforce of 7,500 people - meaning that almost three-quarters of former Twitter employees have now lost their jobs.
Explaining the first mass cuts at the start of his takeover last year, Musk said 'unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4m/day'.
Retweeting Musk's post, one Twitter user questioned: "I wonder if this is a cryptic message?"
"Cryptic and neat timing," added another person of the tweet following the layoffs.
UNILAD has reached out to Twitter for comment.