Elon Musk addressed Twitter employees for the first time on Thursday, expressing his view that the social media company would need to cut its headcount, but offering few other new details about his $44 billion planned takeover.
Mr Musk appeared via video call 10 minutes late to what turned out to be a freewheeling question and answer session moderated by a Twitter executive, in which Mr Musk mused about the existence of aliens and other space civilisations and his view that Twitter should help “civilisation and consciousness”.
The Tesla chief executive, who is also chief executive of rocket company SpaceX, told Twitter staff he wants to raise the service's user numbers from 229 million to at least one billion and said advertising would remain important for the company, despite previously saying he believes Twitter should not have advertisements, according to audio of the meeting heard by Reuters.
“I think advertising is very important for Twitter,” Mr Musk said. “I'm not against advertising. I would probably talk to the advertisers and say, like, 'hey, let's just make sure the ads are as entertaining as possible.'”
Mr Musk, who was expected to provide assurance to Twitter employees during his first meeting, did not offer an update on the deal closing.
He reiterated he was still trying to learn more about bot and spam accounts on Twitter, which he called his biggest concern.
In response to a question about whether he expected layoffs, Mr Musk said there needed to be “some rationalisation of headcount and expenses”.
“Right now, the costs exceed the revenue,” he said and added that “anyone who's … a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about”.
Twitter employees took to an internal Slack channel in droves during the session, posting memes and complaining that Mr Musk was not providing useful answers on his vision for the business and employee compensation.
The impending takeover of Twitter has been met with widespread scepticism and concern among the San Francisco-based company's employees, some of whom have worried Mr Musk will relax rules on certain content.
The billionaire told Twitter staff he believed users should be allowed to say “pretty outrageous things” on the site as long as the content is not illegal.
Twitter shares were down 1.5 per cent and Tesla shares slumped more than 9 per cent in afternoon trading.
Mr Musk dialled into the call wearing a white shirt and appeared to be sitting in a kitchen, said a source who watched the call.
10 most followed celebrities on Twitter — in photos
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Former US president Barack Obama has the most-followed account on Twitter and is a prolific tweeter. AFP -
Canadian singer-songwriter Justin Bieber has the second most-followed account but has only posted once in 2022. He's prolific on Instagram, however. AFP -
US singer-songwriter Katy Perry comes in third and is active on Twitter, but not particularly prolific. AFP -
Rihanna has the fourth most-followed account, but has posted less than 10 times per month in 2022 so far. Getty Images via AFP -
Cristiano Ronaldo, who has the fifth most-followed account, keeps us updated several times a month, but is far more active on Instagram. AFP -
Taylor Swift, who has had a love-hate relationship with social media, has the sixth most-followed Twitter account and yet rarely uses the platform. Getty Images via AFP -
Lady Gaga has the seventh most-followed Twitter account and is fairly active, but uses Instagram a bit more. Getty Images via AFP -
Elon Musk, who has the eighth most-followed Twitter account, is the biggest individual shareholder in the parent company and its newest board member, and is among the most prolific users. AFP -
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses Twitter regularly, with several posts per day, and has the ninth most-followed account. AFP -
US comedienne Ellen DeGeneres keeps her 77.5 million followers updated several times per day. AFP
