Flipping the Bird: Elon vs Twitter | Extremely Hardcore | 4

0:11Jim Redman's job at Twitter included incident management. He helped the site handle things when a big moment happened. Now, in the days following Elon Musk's acquisition, Twitter itself was the incident. And Jim had no way to manage it. It does kind of remind me of just seeing storm clouds on the horizon, knowing that something's coming. We just don't know how bad it's going to be yet. Jim and his more than 7 ,000 fellow employees were staring up at the sky, waiting for the storm to roll in. The rumor mill was pretty strong. People understood pretty well that, yeah, this is going to happen probably today.

0:49He went into the cave, the windowless room where he and his colleagues kept the site going. But it was hard to focus. There were a lot of people who were kind of wandering around, checking in on the friends they had made, the people they had worked with, and exchanging contact information. By the afternoon, Twitter employees started gathering in a space called The Lodge. It was an actual 200-year-old homesteader cabin from Montana that Twitter's architects had found on Craigslist and integrated into the fifth floor. It was one of the most popular spaces in HQ. Employees could gather in booths to work on projects together.

1:25Or when they got bored, could take a break and watch sports on the large screen mounted on the wall. But today... People are sitting around having a snack, maybe having something to drink, just kind of being as social as possible. Someone described it as like the last day of camp vibes. And then, Jim and the other Twitter employees who were gathered in the lodge started getting the email. Someone would pull their phone out and look at it, and they'd gasp or they'd have a little shocked reaction on their face, and everyone around them would immediately notice, reach in their pocket, pull out their own phone, and they'd gasp or they'd have a shocked reaction on their face, and it just kind of spread across the room like ripples.

2:09People started getting the email that, yes, we are going to have layoffs, and this is how it's going to go down. The email read, In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce. By 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on Friday, November 4th, everyone will receive an individual email with the subject line, Your Role at Twitter. It was signed simply, Twitter. That email was terrifying. Before long, security guards swept through Twitter headquarters, demanding everyone clear the building immediately. Elon and his advisors were worried that a laid-off employee might try some kind of sabotage against the company.

2:54Jim and the others in the lodge gathered their belongings and headed downstairs, looking around the lobby, knowing it might be for the last time. Everyone had to spend one more night awaiting their fate. I literally woke up to the email. The sound went off on my phone. Naya was in South Carolina at her mom's house that morning. A lot of us that worked in sales, we were afraid of losing our jobs because we knew that he wasn't the biggest fan of the ads model and just of ads in general. You know who she means by he. 90 % of Twitter's revenue was from ads. And Naya was a good seller, making her targets quarter after quarter.

3:41I brought in a million dollars in revenue. A million dollars just in the last year. Like, new revenue. That wasn't enough. I woke up to the email and it was like, your role at Twitter. Naya finished reading the email and went into her mom's room. She says, do you still have a job? And I said, no. Employees bracing for getting fired started posting on Slack with the salute emoji. Person after person, just thousands upon thousands of salute emoji just filling the channel. People were just kind of expressing their appreciation for each other. You know, I respect you. I thank you for your service and all you've done for us, for me personally and for the company and for our team.

4:27It was a bit heartbreaking, but also a bit heartening, if that makes any sense. Some went on Twitter to say their goodbyes. Well, my entire team just got locked out. Love you all, my little birds. The dream job and the dream team. Grateful to have been on this ride. Bird gang forever, y 'all. Some users responded with a photo of Twitter's iconic bird, but upside down and with the words R.I.P. Twitter above. The layoffs spread across the people who moderated the content, wrote the code that kept the site running, who sold the ads that paid the bills. Many employees didn't even get an email confirming they'd been let go, before they were simply locked out of their work accounts.

5:13By the day's end, 3 ,700 employees, half of Twitter's entire workforce, were let go in a single day. Jim Redmond was not fired that day. I was a bit relieved that I wasn't initially laid off. I was also, I was sad for the people who had been let go because their lives had been upended very abruptly. When I found out about specific people, I was angry because this is a good engineer and you're letting them go for some terrible reason that you're not telling us. I would think of this as like the aftermath of a battle, like seeing who survived, who's still around, who should we mourn. Jim was one of the employees left behind, part of the new regime with the job of keeping Twitter going.

6:07Arguably a fate worse than being fired.

6:16So, you just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. See, when it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites. Indeed's Sponsored Jobs help you stand out and hire fast. With Sponsored Jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster. And that makes a huge difference. According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45 % more applications than non-sponsored jobs. Plus, with Indeed Sponsored Jobs, there aren't any monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts.

7:05You only pay for results. How fast is Indeed? Well, in the minute I've been talking with you, 23 hires were made on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. Look, there's no need to wait any longer. You can speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of Business Wars will get a$75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility. That's at Indeed.com slash BW. Just go to Indeed.com slash BW right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed right here on Business Wars. That's Indeed.com slash BW. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring? Indeed is all you need. This message is brought to you by Apple Card.

7:53So you left your wallet in the car. Or was it at home? No need to panic. With your iPhone, you can tap to pay using Apple Card with Apple Pay and earn unlimited daily cash back when you do. Apple Card is ready when you need it. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at AppleCard.com.

8:23From Wondery, I'm David Brown, the host of Business Wars. And this is Flipping the Bird, Elon vs. Twitter. This is Episode 4, Extremely Hardcore.

8:56Nearly everyone expected lots of people would lose their jobs at Twitter. In a tweet on the day of the mass layoffs, Elon tried to explain this inevitability. Regarding Twitter's reduction in force, unfortunately, there is no choice when the company is losing over$4 million a day. Everyone exited was offered three months of severance, which is 50 % more than legally required. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had advocated for Elon to get involved with Twitter. Now, he put the blame for the carnage on himself. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation. I grew the company size too quickly.

9:37I apologize for that. Zoe Schiffer of Platformer has been one of the reporters who broke many of the twists and turns of Elon's takeover of Twitter. There was no doubt in really anyone's mind that the company needed to lay off a sizable portion of the staff. Twitter had been losing money for years. On top of that, Elon had grossly overpaid at$44 billion, and the interest on the loans to buy the company at that inflated price was astronomical. More than a billion dollars annually that Twitter would have to pay. Elon had to cut costs. So he took a massive axe and swung it through Twitter's workforce.

10:21But the size, speed, and the way it went down, well, it didn't have to be that way. The way that Elon Musk conducted the layoffs, that was so problematic. It was haphazard. Elon Musk might have saved himself a whole lot of payroll costs, but he also put the site at risk. You had entire critical engineering teams that had one to two people. Some of them had no people on them overnight. One of the biggest shocks to Twitter's employees was that Elon didn't seem to have much of a plan for how to run the company with half the people. And if he did, well, the Tweeps hadn't heard anything about it. Communication at Twitter was basically non-existent.

11:09Sasha Solomon was one of the remaining. She worked in infrastructure, one of those key divisions that keeps Twitter functioning for its hundreds of millions of users. It was like basically my entire team was gone and a bunch of teams that were related to my team were also gone. Most of infrastructure was just completely gutted. I was one of two managers left. Myself and the other person were kept because we used to be engineers before, so we were technical enough to remain. Sasha figured she was kept on for her engineering skills. But she didn't even know who she reported to now or what she was expected to be doing.

11:48It was like, I hear Elon's going to work on this, like he wants us to work on this project. Nothing's planned for us, just kind of like at, you know, his whim, he'll like tweet a thing. And then everyone's like, we got to work on that now because he tweeted it. Twitter rank and file employees who were left at the company who wanted to understand what Elon's plans were. They were directed to an unexpected source of information. A podcast. Some of Elon's closest friends in Silicon Valley had started a tech bro hangout pod during the pandemic called The All In Podcast with Chamath Paliapatea, Jason Calacanis, David Sachs and David Friedberg.

12:25Two of the four hosts, Jason Calacanis and David Sachs, were part of Elon's inner circle at Twitter. And as the layoff drama unfolded, All In became a place where they would share some of what was happening behind the scenes where the insiders hung out. So I guess we can talk about it now. Elon has closed the deal. I guess we can talk about it now. In an episode recorded hours after the deal had closed, Jason and David offered some clear insight into what they and Elon were thinking and professed an almost messianic faith in Elon's ability to lead Twitter to a new promised land. What's cool about what Elon is doing is he's starting with this mission of restoring Twitter to being a free speech platform, of being the town square it was always meant to be.

13:12There's no doubt that I think Elon can turn this around pretty quickly and make it massively profitable, I think, and clean up the bot problem very quickly. This isn't rocket science and Elon's done rocket science, so I think he's going to figure it out. To Elon's inner circle, he was a level 99 mage who had conquered space, time and electricity. As far as their opinions on how things worked at old Twitter, well, it was no secret that Elon and his advisors didn't believe Twitter's workforce was particularly hardcore. I'm looking forward to some tofu salads and meditation. Namaste. Literally, I think 8 ,000 square feet is meditation rooms that haven't been used in five years.

14:00The Oatly has left the building. Let's just leave it at that. Twitter employees were dealing with the aftermath of a mass layoff event, and two of Elon's closest advisors were gleefully mocking them. But there were a growing number of Twitter employees who seized on the opportunity to get on board with Elon and embrace their new boss. No one quite as publicly as product manager Esther Crawford. On November 2nd, Esther tweeted a photo of herself in a sleeping bag with an eye mask for added effect. The message? When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines, sometimes you hashtag sleep where you work.

14:42Esther was working on a high-value project, one that Elon had tasked her with launching. The photo was a not-so-subtle signal that she was all in. To Sasha, Esther's post felt like it went beyond just poor work-life balance. It also feels very performative. I mean, I didn't work with Esther, but a few people may be similar to Esther that you're like, wow, I thought I kind of like knew you or like knew what you were about. And they're kind of just like flipping, I don't know, like backstabbing to like climb the little corporate ladder. Jim Redman saw it too. Aside from Esther, a handful of other employees were fawning over Elon on Slack, defending the layoffs and posing for selfies with him around the office.

15:24I think a lot of the people who chose to be very vocally pro-Elon, they wanted his attention. They wanted that kind of afterglow, basking in the lights of Elon. Tweeps were falling into two camps. Those who still saw him as an invader, and those who were excited about being part of Elon's Twitter. But what was Elon's Twitter? It didn't matter which camp you were in, neither side had the answer.

15:57Two weeks after Elon closed the deal to buy Twitter and a week after Elon had decimated the workforce, Jim was just going about his business. He'd woken up that morning to his first email from Twitter's new boss announcing that work from home was over. Now, Jim heard from him again. Elon was holding in all hands. In 20 minutes. It didn't say it was mandatory, but that was pretty implicit that you needed to be there. This was the first time Elon was addressing his remaining employees since buying the company. Anyone in HQ that day packed into a large meeting room. Jim and the rest of the Twitter employees working from home joined a live stream.

16:41Once again, Elon strolled in fashionably late. We were all waiting and waiting and waiting. About 10 to 15 minutes after the alleged start time, he finally shows up, grabs a microphone, and is walking around the front of the room. Elon began with niceties. He told his new employees that he believed Twitter could be the town square where people exchange ideas and where once in a while they change their mind. Then, he opened it up to questions. Many employees wanted to know about what their futures would look like. The last seven months had upended most everything they knew and gutted their company.

17:21The moderator asked Elon how he was going to bring people together and get everyone focused on the big vision. I can tell you, like, philosophically, what works at SpaceX and Tesla is people being in the office and being hardcore. and a small number of people can get a tremendous amount done in that situation. It was a Twitter all hands, but Elon just kept right on talking about Tesla and SpaceX. He credited Tesla's AI autopilot team with just 150 engineers for outperforming 3 ,000-person teams. He acknowledged that Tesla and SpaceX were companies that manufacture hardware, but claimed their excellent software made him fully understand what Twitter needed.

18:07And Jim heard the message of what, according to Elon, Twitter needed. We really need to be hardcore. We need to push. We need to work really hard to make this work. But it wasn't clear what this was. The more Elon spoke, the less it looked like he had a real plan. He said Twitter should be more like YouTube or TikTok or that Twitter should offer bank accounts. Whatever trust and goodwill still existed among Twitter ranks was quickly crumbling. Jim tweeted out his frustration. I'm not sure I've ever been to a worse meeting than this rambling, unfocused, bullshit buffet. One employee brought the conversation back to return to office.

18:52Elon had sent a middle-of-the-night email the night before, killing work from home. Now the employee wanted to know why Elon was asking for this if teams are spread out around the globe. Elon just doubled down on the demand. The person who asked the question basically interrupted him to say, that is not an answer to my question. Even if people return to the office, the offices are separate offices. We won't be in person anyways. You could tell that this annoyed him very, very much. Yes, but you can still maximize the amount of in-person activity. Tesla's not in one place either. But, you know, it's basically, if you can show up at an office and you do not show up at the office, resignation accepted.

19:35End of story. It was like flipping a switch. It went from easygoing, conversational to, you know, it's a very stark change and very sudden. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say it's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, because that seemed like it would be a lot more gradual of a change. This was very, very, very sudden. It was this brand new person out of nowhere just materialized and was answering questions. The all hands ended and the employees returned to work. But it wasn't yet clear what they should be prioritizing. Elon had cut costs in the form of layoffs. Now, he needed to figure out how Twitter would make more money.

20:20Elon and his team had one priority over everything else charging users to get verified and pretty soon the entire site would be singing the Twitter Blues

20:43Ready or not? Yep, the holidays are coming and I'll be honest, I love having friends and family over But I don't love realizing at the last minute that my serving pieces look like they've been through one too many dinner parties. Or that the guest room is more college dorm chic than holiday cozy. Know what I mean? Well, that's where Wayfair comes in. We just ordered some new serving plates. A new wreath for the door. A set of crisp new sheets. And suddenly the house feels just about guest ready. Even better. It didn't feel like a chore. It felt fun. But I've been here before, I'll be honest. My secret?

21:18The Wayfair app. What I love most is how Wayfair has literally everything you need. That's no exaggeration. I was surprised to find high-quality cookware that's perfect for hosting those big family dinners. And let me tell you something. Delivery was a breeze, free and fast, even for the larger items. Whether you're looking to spruce up your kids' rooms with festive touches or need new bedding for the guest room, Wayfair's got you covered. From Christmas trees and wreaths to inflatables for the yard, they're truly a one-stop shop for holiday prep. And the best part? There's something for every style and every budget.

21:53I can't wait to tackle more of my holiday home goals with Wayfair. It just makes getting ready for the season so much easier. Leaving more time to enjoy with the family. That's what it's all about. Get organized, refreshed, and ready for the holidays for way less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R dot com. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. When planning for your future, you want someone with a history of keeping their word year after year. For nearly 160 years, Pacific Life has been a trusted name in the industry. But that isn't just a number. It's experience that matters.

22:35It's 160 years of promises held, helping generations retire with confidence, protect their loved ones, and plan for whatever comes next. Whether you're looking for life insurance, employee benefits, or retirement income solutions, When your future is on the line, you want history on your side. And believe me, Pacific Life has been there, always there through changing times, always focused on your needs. Ready to secure your tomorrow? Ask a financial professional how Pacific Life can help you feel prepared for what's next. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Omaha, Nebraska, and in New York, Pacific Life & Annuity, Phoenix, Arizona.

23:11Because with Pacific Life, you're not just planning for the future, you're partnering with trusted experience.

23:29As Elon Musk entered his second week as the owner of Twitter, the pressure was on to make money. And his plan was to get people to pay$8 a month for Twitter's most valuable status symbol, the blue checkmark. A checkmark on a Twitter account meant the account holder had proved that they were the companies or people they said they were. It could also be a sign that the person behind the account mattered. Elon's friends and advisors were all in on the idea of getting people to pay for this privilege, as they discussed on the All In podcast. If people are opting in to putting themselves into the top class of verified users, well, that's a revenue stream, right?

24:10And so all of a sudden, you know, I don't know how many millions of people would instantly say, I'll pay for this for five or ten bucks a month to be verified. To him, I think it was like evening the playing field while also bumping up Twitter's revenue and critically shifting it away from being so dependent on ads. Zoe Schiffer covers tech for Platformer. He put the fear of God in employees. He was saying things like, if this doesn't roll out on schedule, everyone's fired. But many employees had concerns about Elon's grand vision. The trust and safety team wrote up this seven-page document laying out all of the risks for allowing people to pay for verification.

24:49Things like people will impersonate brands and that'll create PR disasters for those brands. People will impersonate world leaders and spread misinformation and that will be very bad for everyone. But Elon forged ahead. Two weeks after Elon's takeover, Twitter Blue 2.0 was released. And almost everything that employees were very nervous about happened, and it happened within like 48 hours of launch. Immediately, users' timelines were filled with celebrity imposters. Someone pretending to be LeBron James demanded a trade to another team. A fake Lockheed Martin announced they would stop selling weapons to the United States.

25:30Sean Morrow, a reporter and activist with an odd sense of humor, was sitting on Amtrak, scrolling through Twitter. I was watching people making accounts of, you know, Mario flipping the bird or Joe Biden saying he can do lewd acts or other just completely absurd things. And I was like, oh, that's kind of funny. I should maybe do something along those lines. I considered some absurd things like saying I'm Subway and saying our footlongs are now 14 inches long or that I'm Ted Danson and that Becker is coming back on the air. Something super silly. But then he realized something. I thought to myself, there's possibly real power here.

26:12And I wanted to do something that would have an impact. He decided to take aim at the high cost of pharmaceuticals. He picked his target, Eli Lilly, one of the top insulin producers in the United States. Now, all he needed was a blue checkmark. I found that to verify an account, you need to have an account that lasted over a certain amount of days. Sean had that. He paid his$8 and got to work, if you can call it that. It was shockingly easy to set up an account that looked just like Eli Lilly's real account. I go to Eli Lilly's own Twitter. I do a little right-click, download their logo, the profile picture, download their header image.