Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey speaks to students at the city hall at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India, November 12, 2018.
Anushree Fadnavis | Reuters
Twitter Co-founder Jack Dorsey on Saturday apologized for growing the company “too fast,” a day after the company laid off about half of the staff under new owner Elon Musk.
“The people at Twitter past and present are both strong and resilient. They will always find a way no matter how difficult the times,” Dorsey said. wrote in a tweet. “I realize that a lot of people are angry with me. I hold myself accountable for why people are in this situation: I grew the size of the company too quickly. I’m sorry for that.”
As of June 30, 2013, shortly before the social media company went public, Twitter had about 2,000 employees, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At the end of last year, the company reported having more than 7,500 full-time employees.
After Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk took ownership of Twitter on October 28, the company embarked on drastic cuts to its workforce. Twitter notified employees Thursday night that it would begin laying off employees, according to communication from CNBC.
The cuts affect a total of 983 employees in Californiaits home state, according to three notice letters the company sent to regional governments, obtained by CNBC.
Musk wrote in a tweet Friday afternoon, “Regarding Twitter’s workforce cuts, unfortunately there is no other option as the company is losing more than $4 million/day. Everyone leaving is recommended. 3 months layoff offer, which is 50% more than the legal requirement.”
Twitter’s reduction in force extends beyond California, and CNBC could not immediately confirm whether Musk’s description was accurate. A $4 million daily loss at the company would equate to an annual loss of about $1.5 billion.
Dorsey co-founded Twitter in 2006 along with Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. Dorsey has held the top job twice during leadership changes and stepped down as CEO last year. The company’s then-CTO was Parag Agrawal, who succeeded Dorsey as the former CEO. leaving as part of Musk’s takeover.
Dorsey has since shifted focus to just managing his payments company Unit, formerly known as the Square. He’s an outspoken supporter of Musk’s takeover, wrote in a tweet that “This is the right path… I believe it with all my heart.”
— Lora Kolodny and Jonathan Vanian of CNBC contributed to this report.
