Barron’s senior writer Al Root discusses how Elon Musk has revived the space industry and his Mars ambitions in “Barron’s Roundtable.”
Twitter CEO Elon Musk discussed the significant cuts at Twitter, saying the social media company had “a lot of people who didn’t seem to have much value” before it took over the sharing, which he believes that other Silicon Valley companies can do the same.
“There were a lot of people who didn’t seem to have much value,” Musk said in a virtual speech at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in London, England. “I think that’s true of a lot of companies in Silicon Valley.”
“I think there is an opportunity for significant cuts at other companies without impacting their productivity, even increasing their productivity,” Musk continued.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla, meets with France’s President at the Élysée Presidential Palace in Paris on May 15, 2023. (MICHEL EULER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
According to a Business Insider report, the billionaire has cut almost 90% of its workforce since acquiring Twitter. Musk explained that prior to the layoffs, there was one person in a meeting who “helped move things forward” and nine others who tried to “slam the brakes.”
ELON MUSK hints at support for new 2024 presidential nominee
“In every company there are people who help move things forward and people who are kind of trying to put the brakes on,” Musk told WSJ Europe, Middle East and Africa editor Thorold Barker. “Twitter was in a situation where you had a meeting with ten people and one person on the accelerator and nine on a brake.”
“They haven’t gotten very far,” added the billionaire CEO.
The Twitter logo can be seen on the head office of the short message service. (Andrei Sokolov/picture Alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Since Musk has owned the platform, he has worked to slowly revamp the social media site and plan new features for users. He told Barker that the company “is eager” to expand Twitter’s functionality.
ELON MUSK SHARES TESLA EXECUTIVES IN NEW MEMO: REPORT THAT HE MUST PERSONALLY APPROVE ALL HIRING
“Now we’re eager to add functionality, although the site’s stability is a bit compromised as long as it’s not too serious,” Musk said. “I think at this point it’s probably fair to say that we’ve rolled out more features in the last six months than Twitter has in the last six years.”
Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, speaks at the Twitter 2.0: From Conversations to Partnerships marketing conference on April 18, 2023 in Miami Beach, Florida. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Along with a variety of additional features, Musk shared in a Twitter post that voice and video chat via Twitter handle are in the works. These features will be available “soon” and will give users the ability “to talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them their phone number,” Musk shared a twitter post on May 9th.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO by CLICK HERE
The CEO overhauled site verification, stripping users of the blue badges they received through the old program and instead using different colored ticks for different user types. The platform also recently launched a program that allows eligible users around the world to provide their fans with a paid subscription.