Less than a day after completing his acquisition, Musk decided to change its website.
Employees familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to speak without the company's permission said that he requested that log in users be directed to the Explore page that shows the news and trends on the site. The sign-up form on the home page encouraged the creation of an account. The code freeze put in place to prevent rogue staffers from making changes during the takeover process was put in place late Friday.
The employees who observed the change were told that no more sacred cows would be allowed. It would have taken weeks for the decision to be made. This was the new social media platform. According to a former executive, that is one way to show you are in charge.
It is definitely one way to show you are in charge.
Less than three days into his reign as "chief twit," Musk has begun to change the company from the inside out. As he prepares to lay off a significant portion of employees in the coming days, he has fast-tracked changes to the service, such as ordering that its paid subscription feature be renamed to "Subscriptions" in a rushed update to the mobile app. He has talked about using his satellite-based internet service, Starlink, to make it easier for people in countries where it's hard to access to see what's happening on the micro-blogging site.
While their managers draw up lists of team members to lay off, employees tasked with completing tasks from Musk have worked late into the night and the weekend. A person familiar with the situation said that Musk was trying to avoid paying out tens of millions of dollars in stock to executives who were fired last week. Some employees are worried that they will be laid off before November 1st, when a lot of them will receive stock grants.
Musk's inner circle is helping him understand what he just bought. He has been holed up in a sectioned off area of the San Francisco headquarters with a fleet of cars parked outside. Dozens of people from his family office, other companies, and social circles have been added to the employee directory and given company email addresses.
Alex Spiro is Musk's personal lawyer, Andrew Musk is his relative and David Sacks is an influential political donor.
Last Friday, Kayvon Beykpour was seen in the office, sparking rumors that he could return to work. Complicating that idea is that Jay Sullivan is still at the company.
In the coming weeks, there will be a focus on identity and safety on the micro-blogging site.
On Saturday, Calacanis, who co-hosted the popular All-In podcast that Musk was a guest on earlier this year, said that he was impressed with his dedication to and perspective on security issues. The company was banning accounts that were involved in a "trolling campaign" of racial slurs, according to a thread on the company's website. Calacanis went on to say that there would be a focus on identity and safety in the coming weeks.
The first thing Musk has to do is figure out who he wants to keep. Engineers were asked to print out their code contributions from the last 30 to 60 days and bring them to be reviewed by Musk and his engineers. They were told to shred their prints and use their computers to show the code. Some engineers have been following a account that tracks the location of Musk's private jet, expecting him and the engineers to visit the company's New York City office on Monday.
According to managers, the purpose of the reviews is for Musk to see who can work at the speed and efficiency he demands, and that he wants to weed out engineering managers who don't write code. He likened being a cavalry captain who can't ride a horse to being a manager in software.
Since Musk took over, the communications department has stopped responding to questions.
Is it possible that you know more about what's happening on the micro-messaging service? I would love to chat quietly if that is the case. You can get in touch with me by email or by filling out the contact form on my Linktree. We can use a secure thread on Signal.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
