Musk is firing more Twitter employees despite promises to the contrary

In late November, Elon Musk gathered the remaining Twitter employees at the company’s San Francisco headquarters to tell them the wave of layoffs was over. In the preceding weeks, he had laid off about two-thirds of the workforce, while several hundred resigned themselves.

The technology portal The Verge now reports that about 300 other employees have since had to leave. In the past week alone, dozens of Twitter sales and technology employees had to vacate their seats. One of the latest Musk victims is Marcin Kadluczka, the previous head of advertising. According to The Verge, there have been at least three more rounds of layoffs since Musk’s commitment last November.

Musk: Twitter advertising should work like Google

Musk recently ordered a review of the way ads are displayed on Twitter’s main feed within a week. In the future, advertising should work like Google’s search ads, which are mainly based on the searched keywords and not on the user’s activities and profile data. This approach works well for a search engine that people use to search for specific terms they seem to be interested in, writes the tech portal. But for social media companies, this has never worked before.

Commenting on Musk’s announced overhaul of online advertising, former Twitter executive Bruce Falck said, “As a former head of advertising at Twitter, I can safely say this guy has no idea what he’s talking about.”

Kadluczka, the recently fired head of advertising, wrote on Twitter that while the ads could be optimized in two to three months, Musk’s one-week deadline for updating Twitter ads was impossible. Musk previously ordered a similarly short deadline for introducing a subscription model with new verification checkboxes. The hasty launch had to be quickly shelved after the frequent appearance of fake celebrity and corporate accounts.

Musk’s Problem: He desperately needs ad revenue to keep Twitter running as he tries to sell users the new Twitter Blue plans with extra features. Advertising revenue accounts for about 90 percent of business revenue on Twitter. However, Twitter’s sales have recently fallen by about a third as many ad customers have temporarily suspended or reduced their orders.

Some big clients are now back on Twitter. They may have taken the opportunity to negotiate discounts for their ads. With Apple, one of the largest advertisers also sticks to Musk. Twitter and Apple bosses met face-to-face in early December, after which Musk dropped his harsh criticism of Apple’s controversial app store fee of up to 30 percent. Apple makes money from every Twitter subscription sold through the App Store, which Musk publicly denounced.

(oli)