Rumor: Twitter Layoffs A-Comin’
Rumor: Twitter Layoffs A-Comin’
Jack Dorsey is back. The former Twitter CEO, ousted from the job back in 2008, is now Twitter’s permanent CEO after serving as its interim chief executive since July. Say what you will about the move—Twitter’s investors have pushed the stock up a bit over 14 percent since Monday’s news about Dorsey broke. However, some of those who aren’t likely to celebrate in the aisles are Twitter’s rank-and-file employees.
The reason? According to numerous reports, Twitter is allegedly going to tighten up operations starting next week, and layoffs are allegedly a part of the grand plan.
According to unnamed sources speaking to The New York Times, Twitter’s layoffs could hit as early as Tuesday. It’s unclear just how many employees might be affected, and we also don’t know whether this means that Twitter is possibly considering a hiring freeze as well or whether the company is just looking to be much, much more selective about who it lets in the door.
Right now, Twitter has approximately 4,100 employees or so stretched out across 35 offices. According to Recode, that’s more than double the number of employees the company had around a similar time period back in 2013.
It’s rumored that Twitter engineers might get hit hardest in the layoffs, but said layoffs should affect almost every department at Twitter. It’s also unclear whether certain offices (of Twitter’s 35 in total) might get hit harder than others.
Twitter, as you might expect, isn’t commenting on the rumors. However, reducing overall costs and improving efficiency—hard parts of business—were likely a part of Dorsey’s overall pitch when making a case for staying on as CEO.
“The world needs a Twitter that not only remains relevant, but thrives and continues to redefine what came before it. It is our goal to exceed the expectations that the world has for us,” Dorsey said on a conference call Monday, following the announcement of his permanent position.
According to the Times’ sources, Twitter executives have been considering some restructuring moves internally—basically, trimming the fat, though it’s unclear just how much Twitter is looking to cut. Twitter’s costs and expenses were up 37 percent in the second quarter of 2015 (to $633 million).
“In order to realize Twitter’s full potential, we must improve in three key areas: ensure more disciplined execution, simplify our service to deliver Twitter’s value faster, and better communicate that value,” said Dorsey, in a statement, via Twitter’s second-quarter results announcement.
In addition to the rumored layoffs, Twitter is also allegedly not going to go forward with a potential expansion of its San Francisco headquarters. The company was planning to pull in more space at a building across from Twitter HQ—home to Square, which Dorsey also runs. The expansion would have given Twitter around 100,000 or so more square feet to work with.
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