Elon Musk finally met with Twitter employees yesterday in a virtual all-hands meeting to try and shed some light on his impending takeover.
Just like my dog’s favorite chewed-up tennis ball, no matter how far I try to throw this story away, it just keeps reappearing at my feet. Elon Musk addressed Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) employees for the first time yesterday to discuss his impending takeover of the company.
If you were hoping for intrigue, Elon definitely delivered here, with talk of growth, potential layoffs, and even some musings on extraterrestrial life.
Let’s just dive right in.
What does the future of Twitter look like?
Musk joined the video call fashionably late by around 10 minutes and set about answering employees’ questions. Some key themes emerged, with answers being sought on changes to Twitter’s product, workplace policies, and Musk’s stance on free speech.
Musk addressed each of these questions to some degree, but drew the ire of the crowd for being non-descript about the future of the company. Employees reportedly took to their company Slack channel en masse to demand that the moderator press Elon further on his plans.
I’ll try and sum up some of Musk’s more important points in quickfire fashion:
- On free speech, Musk is of the belief that people should generally be allowed to say whatever they want on the platform, but that doesn’t mean that Twitter should necessarily promote it.
- He stated his bias is “strongly towards working in person” but that there’s a marked difference between running a social platform and making cars remotely — giving Twitter employees some hope that they won’t be dragged back into the office.
- Musk admitted that the company “does need to get healthy” regarding layoffs, but significant contributors have nothing to worry about.
- He wants Twitter to aim for 1 billion daily active users, from a current figure of 229 million.
And if all that wasn’t enough to fill the Elon-sized hole in your thoughts for today, he also brought up the existence of aliens, but stated that he hasn’t actually seen any evidence of their existence.
Never a dull moment, eh?