By Chris Menahan
Twitter CEO Elon Musk brushed off recommendations from company executives to structure his mass firings in the interests of “diversity and inclusion,” the New York Times reports.
From New York Times, “Two Weeks of Chaos: Inside Elon Musk’s Takeover of Twitter”:
SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk had a demand.
On Oct. 28, hours after completing his $44 billion buyout of Twitter the night before, Mr. Musk gathered several human-resource executives in a “war room” in the company’s offices in San Francisco. Prepare for widespread layoffs, he told them, six people with knowledge of the discussion said. Twitter’s work force needed to be slashed immediately […]
The scope of layoffs was a moving target. Twitter managers were initially told to cut 25 percent of the work force, three people said. But Tesla engineers who reviewed Twitter’s code proposed deeper cuts to the engineering teams. Executives overseeing other parts of Twitter were told to expand their layoff lists.
Twitter executives also suggested assessing the lists for diversity and inclusion issues so the cuts would not hit people of color disproportionately and to avoid legal trouble. Mr. Musk’s team brushed aside the suggestion, two people said.
