Following the announcement, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said that there are no layoffs planned “at this moment”. While Twitter employees are assured they will still have their jobs, there are reports that Parag Agrawal himself will be sacked with a $42 million payout.
Agrawal, in a virtual call on Monday, agreed that there is a great deal of “uncertainty about what will happen after the deal closes.” This would instill no sense of confidence in the hearts of Twitter employees.
According to a report by The Verge, Twitter employees did not show up for work for the first few hours in the morning leading up to the sale. “Work all but came to a halt, employees told me. Like a classroom where the teacher is late and students are attempting to self-govern, one said. A ‘hellhole,’ said another.”
Twitter’s public Slack channels were abuzz following the Elon Musk buyout announcement, with many employees expressing concern and negativity. One employee reportedly said, “I was kind of surprised how much people seemed like they were giving up. Big bummer.”
However, not everyone seems to be angry with the whole situation. Some employees are optimistic that a privately owned Twitter under Musk has a better chance of improving than a public company under shareholders. The fact that Elon Musk wants to eliminate bots and improve Twitter’s algorithm has gone down well with some employees.
All said and done, it seems unclear right now whether Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter will see employees quitting in droves. We will have a better idea regarding the sentiments of employees in the coming days.