Elon Musk has once again made waves at Twitter, this time with an internal email presenting employees with a stark choice: commit to a high-intensity transformation of the company or leave with severance. The email, sent to all Twitter staff, outlined Musk’s vision for the platform, emphasizing long hours, extreme dedication, and a focus on engineering excellence.
Employees were given until 5 p.m. New York time on Thursday to sign an online form pledging their commitment. Those unwilling to meet the rigorous demands Musk described would receive three months of severance pay. “For Twitter to succeed, we will need to be extremely hardcore,” Musk wrote in the email, stressing that only “exceptional performance” would suffice in the new era of the company.
In his email, Musk underscored the future dominance of engineering at Twitter. He described the platform as a “software and servers company” at its core, where engineers would form the majority of the remaining staff and hold the greatest influence. While other functions like design and product management remain important, they will report directly to Musk.
This move aligns with Musk’s broader push to streamline operations and prioritize technical innovation. It also reflects his ongoing efforts to reshape the company’s internal culture after acquiring Twitter in a $44 billion deal just weeks ago.
Musk’s tenure at Twitter has been anything but smooth. Within his first week, he laid off approximately 3,700 employees, including much of the company’s senior leadership. The sweeping cuts have left many of the remaining staff demoralized and anxious about the future.
The lack of communication, coupled with Musk’s abrupt changes, has reportedly led to internal chaos. Current and former employees have voiced concerns about potential technical outages and product failures due to the diminished workforce. Adding to the tension, Musk has dismissed several employees who publicly criticized his decisions, sometimes via Twitter itself.
Musk has made it clear that his vision for Twitter will not come with the perks many employees had grown accustomed to. He has eliminated the company’s work-from-home policy for most employees, introduced the possibility of 80-hour work weeks, and reduced office perks like free food. These changes, combined with Musk’s warning about Twitter’s financial challenges, paint a picture of a company undergoing an intense and uncertain transformation.
Musk has cautioned that Twitter faces potential bankruptcy if it doesn’t generate more cash. With drastic cost-cutting measures and a renewed emphasis on productivity, he’s betting on a leaner, more driven workforce to pull Twitter back from the brink.
As Musk reshapes the company in his image, it remains to be seen whether his “hardcore” approach will deliver the results he envisions—or further deepen the turmoil within one of the world’s most influential social media platforms.
