Technology

Extra layoffs at Twitter, and loyalist Esther Crawford is not spared


Twitter has laid off at the least one other 50 workers, in response to a report from The Info and posts on social media from former staff.

And apparently not even Elon Musk loyalist Esther Crawford, the chief government of Twitter funds who oversaw the corporate’s Twitter Blue verification subscription, was spared, in response to Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer. Alex Heath of The Verge additionally confirmed that Crawford and a lot of the remaining product staff have been laid off this weekend, main many to take a position that Musk is cleansing home to redecorate with a brand new regime.

Recall that Crawford had been swept up by Musk’s hardcore takeover of Twitter final 12 months, even boasting on the platform about sleeping on the workplace to deal with round the clock calls for from her new boss.

 

The layoffs got here this weekend after Twitter workers realized that they had been reduce off from utilizing Slack. Whereas it later got here out that Twitter hadn’t paid its Slack invoice on time, that’s not why the platform went down. The Platformer reported that somebody at Twitter manually shut off entry. Many workers apprehensive that this was the primary signal of layoffs to come back, and whereas correlation doesn’t equal causation, a whole firm being reduce off from their principal mode of communication as layoffs began dropping like bombs precipitated confusion and panic throughout.

“Slack is gone so noone know what’s going on,” reads one submit on Blind, an nameless platform for verified staff. “Individuals obtain e-mail at 2am on saturday and entry reduce instantly. This can go down as one of the excessive layoff in total company historical past”

The submit went on to element the extent of the layoffs: 50% in human relations, 60% in gross sales and advertising and marketing, 35% in engineering, 40% in finance and 80% in mission administration. Staff have acquired one month’s severance, the poster mentioned. Twitter has not responded to requests for remark, nor has it launched a public assertion on the layoffs.

The Info’s report additionally notes that Twitter kicked off this spherical of layoffs by letting go of its advert gross sales workers on February 17.

A senior product supervisor, Martijn de Kuijper, tweeted that he came upon about his personal lack of a job after being locked out of his e-mail account.

“Waking as much as discover I’ve been locked out of my e-mail. Seems to be like I’m let go. Now my Revue journey is actually over,” tweeted de Kuijper. The supervisor based Revue, an editorial e-newsletter device acquired by Twitter in 2021.

Since Musk took over Twitter in October final 12 months, the corporate’s headcount has fallen by over 70%. This newest spherical of layoffs comes after Musk promised in November that no extra layoffs have been to come back. However Musk has a repute for making guarantees he can’t preserve, whether or not it’s swearing that Tesla will clear up full self-driving “subsequent 12 months” yearly since 2014 or reassuring traders that he’s completed promoting Tesla inventory, solely to promote $3.5 billion extra in Tesla inventory.

Musk has not responded to TechCrunch’s request for remark, made through the Musk equal of a Hail Mary — by a tweet.