Twitter employees are rushing to leave as Elon Musk’s acquisition is set to finalize this Friday.
Key Details
- Elon Musk has officially pledged to close the Twitter deal on Friday after the months long battle with the social-media company.
- In the past three months nearly 580 employees have left the social-media company—about 60% more than in the previous quarter—according to an analysis of LinkedIn data by private executive network Punks and Pinstripes.
- In October alone around 50 employees left Twitter. LinkedIn data also shows that around 30% of workers who left in the previous quarter have gone to Google or Meta and others have joined TikTok and Pinterest.
Why it’s news
The battle between Elon Musk and Twitter has been making headlines for months as the billionaire tried to escape the $44 billion acquisition deal.
The time is finally here for Musk to officially take over the platform this Friday, but some of the company’s current workers do not want any part of it.
Twitter employees have been leaving in droves since the announcement of Musk’s acquisition earlier this year.
There are a few reasons that the employees have decided to change career paths. Its rumored that Musk has told investors he plans to cut Twitter’s workforce by about 75% when he takes over, so employees could be leaving before they’re cut or they could just not want to work under Musk’s leadership.
Musk and Twitter Background
The full timeline between Elon Musk and Twitter is long.
It all started in April, Elon Musk announced that he held a 9.2% stake in Twitter, which made him the social-media company’s largest shareholder. Twitter’s stock price soared 25% after the announcement.
Later that month, the billionaire entrepreneur offered to buy all of Twitter at $54.20 per share—equaling about $44 billion. He said he originally invested in the platform because he believes it is failing in its potential to be the leading platform for free speech around the globe. In fact, he asked his 2 million followers if Twitter adhered to principles of free speech, and 70% said “no.”
In July, Musk decided to back out of the deal, claiming there were too many fake accounts on the platform. Twitter has since sued Musk in Delaware Court of Chancery to complete the deal and requested the trial to take place in September. Musk, on the other hand, wanted to delay the trial until February 2023, stating that a case of this size takes time to prepare. Twitter was granted its wish of an expedited trial, with Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the presiding judge, setting a five-day trial for October.
Musk then countersued Twitter, stating his reason for the termination was due to Twitter not being upfront about the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Then, Elon Musk and his legal team subpoenaed Twitter’s founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, to get him to release documents that provide accurate information on bots and spam accounts on the social-media platform and now these documents have come out from Zatko and Musk and his lawyers have subpoenaed him as well.
Then, Musk’s text messages were revealed in court filings and it showed that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey tried to facilitate Musk’s Twitter takeover, which led to Musk officially reverting back to his original deal to buy the social-media company.