Elon Musk Buys Twitter

[Milchshake]

The events surrounding Elon Musk the last two weeks are a great reminder that, despite all the hand-wringing about "cancel culture," the real threats to workers and free speech in America almost exclusively come from the powerful.

I remember the OT forum would get annual threads by conservatives how their "colleges" would oppress them. Conversely, there's never been a mega thread from liberals about "my dipshit conservative boss".

Then again, we all know that conservatives are whiny snowflakes. Liberals under appreciated for being thick-skinned.

In extreme cases like this: definitely Take the Money and Run!

[Twdft]

The problem with firing staff and expecting the rest to pick up the workload is, that that is an unsustainable cycle. Some of the remaining staff will quit from being overworked and make it even harder for the rest who then also will quit.

No matter how much "quiet quitting" was going on at Twitter, firing 75% of your workforce will result in all operations grinding to a halt. If I were a twitter worker I'd tell them I stay for 10x my normal salary. With Musk as a boss you are a whim away from being fired. It's gonna be a shitshow with bankruptcy anyway, so either go "extremely hardcore" for 10x the money a couple months or get fired right away.

I agree, and exercise this myself.

But there are folks who are desperate for a job, and owners know this. Which makes those who exercise work-to-rule expendable, since they can easily be replaced by someone desperate enough to do whatever they are told so they can afford their bare minimums.

I think the best step forward to getting more people on board would be to do away with employment-at-will doctrines. If people were protected by the law, it would be a lot easier to stand by work-to-rule as the power is not solely in the hands of the employer.

Unfettered capitalism working as intended. It's still basically slavery, thinly masked by the fact that you have some influence of who your slaver is. Which doesn't matter since conditions are similar.

And every time you hear US right wing lament about those progressive leftist Democrats... you know it's nonsense since dems too do not want to change the system enough to give workers more power in relation to employers.

[Shadowferal]

Musk is becoming Martin Shkreli.

[Nymrohd]

Musk is becoming Martin Shkreli.

Martin Shkreli had a good product though.

[Shadowferal]

Martin Shkreli had a good product though.

But well-hated despite that.

[Forogil]

I agree, and exercise this myself.

But there are folks who are desperate for a job, and owners know this. Which makes those who exercise work-to-rule expendable, since they can easily be replaced by someone desperate enough to do whatever they are told so they can afford their bare minimums.

Sometimes, but I find it unlikely that the ones that are willing to work on Twitter under these conditions actually can do the job.

[Rasulis]

Musk is learning about Twitter from having his posts on Twitter being fact-checked on Twitter.

Twitter drives a massive number of clicks to other websites/apps. Biggest click driver on the Internet by far.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022

Obviously, he was wrong. Google search engine is #1 by far. However, even excluding Google, FB is the king for third party click. Which is why more than 90% of global small businesses use FB for their advertising.



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Elon Musk has been directing subordinates to comb through Twitter's Slack and make lists of people making fun of him or his plans for firing. They've also been monitoring employee's tweets. Latest w/

First, petty and insecure this bitch has to do it, but hey it's Elon. This should collapse the confidence of Slack if it already is not (personally I have no experience with it). People will defend that in any workplace this would get you fired, sure. Yet, this is supposed to be a "private" channel for employees. Take it like a man, Elon.

Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has given employees until Thursday evening to commit to “extremely hardcore” work or else leave the company, according to a copy of a late-night internal email sent by the billionaire and obtained by CNN

Twitter 2.0 folks!

I love douchebag bosses like this. Just go Hardcore!! As stated a few pages back, the rights of workers are just shitted on. For most of these people, they have to keep working to live so no choice. Elon effin up his business then demand extreme work hours and I guess undying loyalty is bs.

Scoop: Elon Musk just sent an email to all staff outlining "Twitter 2.0", writing it will"need to be extremely hardcore". Long hours, high intensity.

People need to click "yes" to confirm being part of this by 5pm ET tomorrow, else they get 3 months severance. More details:

This won't fly. Despite all the layoff headlines. Tech unemployment is very low.

Despite all the headlines about layoffs, the tech unemployment rate only ticked up slightly to 2.2 percent in October, according to a new analysis by CompTIA. Throughout the year, the tech unemployment rate has largely held steady: it was 2.3 percent in August, for example, before dipping to 2.1 percent in September.

Tech companies added 20,700 workers in October, making it the 23rd straight month of job growth. Overall employment in the tech industry has risen by 193,900 this year, 28 percent higher than 2021. Major tech hubs such as Boston, New York City, San Francisco, and San Jose all enjoyed significant month-over-month upticks in tech-related job postings.

It’s also important to note that hiring for remote-work positions has maintained its momentum. Some 34 percent of open tech positions have a remote-work option, versus 27 percent in 2021 and 22 percent in 2020. Whether remote or in-person, employers’ most-desired tech positions included software developers and engineers (85,796 postings in October), IT support specialists, IT project managers, systems engineers, and network engineers.

We'll see what the November numbers look like. However, it appears that small startups are snapping up those being let go from Meta, Twitter, etc. Keep in mind that these people are not desperate. Twitter employees are being let go with 3 months severance + equity. The typical fully vested Twitter engineers will be leaving with around $500k in equity at the price that Musk paid for Twitter.

[Cosmic Janitor]

"Extremely hardcore" I had to read that twice to make sure that was really coming from an adult. He cuts 75% of the staff then makes the 25% work 3 times as hard. This is just a recipe for burnouts and mass quitting not to mention who in their right mind would go back or get a job at twitter now. I would say the word brain drain but I doubt there's much brain left in that company.

I still wonder how SpaceX did get away with it, but I guess the job prospects fresh out uni are alot worse for "rocket scientists" than they are for your average IT person, as they are needed everywhere. Personally I don't know alot of IT people that could be arsed to work for such a twat long term.

[diller]

I think this is how Musk is hiring

[Rasulis]

I still wonder how SpaceX did get away with it, but I guess the job prospects fresh out uni are alot worse for "rocket scientists" than they are for your average IT person, as they are needed everywhere. Personally I don't know alot of IT people that could be arsed to work for such a twat long term.

Tech employees are willing to work ridiculous long hours because of one single factor - "Stock Options." Typically referred to as equity. At SpaceX, Stock options are a part on the hiring package for most, with gifted options periodically attached to raises and bonuses. The day SpaceX go public, hundreds, if not thousands, of SpaceX employees will become multimillionaires.

[Cosmic Janitor]

And every time you hear US right wing lament about those progressive leftist Democrats... you know it's nonsense since dems too do not want to change the system enough to give workers more power in relation to employers.

That's why american politics look so funny to non-americans. People argue about who is conservative and who is progressive, yet in many other countries that is mostly defined by economic policies. In the US this has been redefined to niche issues that shouldn't even affect the overwhelming majority of people, while even most so-called progressives would pass for conservatives elswhere, with a few exceptions. It's a fantastical smokescreen to trick the masses.

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The day SpaceX go public, hundreds, if not thousands, of SpaceX employees will become multimillionaires.

I have the distinct feeling that it won't work out like that with elon's current trajectory. Also do you even get those options even when being fired randomly at the water cooler?

[Rasulis]

That's why american politics look so funny to non-americans. People argue about who is conservative and who is progressive, yet in many other countries that is mostly defined by economic policies. In the US this has been redefined to niche issues that shouldn't even affect the overwhelming majority of people, while even most so-called progressives would pass for conservatives elswhere, with a few exceptions. It's a fantastical smokescreen to trick the masses.

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I have the distinct feeling that it won't work out like that with elon's current trajectory. Also do you even get those options even when being fired randomly at the water cooler?

Once fully vested, the equity is yours to do what you want. Not sure about the vesting period for SpaceX. Typically, when a new employee starts, the company will give the employee some Restricted Stock Unit (RSU). The RSU will be held at a brokerage. The RSU will convert into unrestricted stock unit based on a timetable. Different for each employer. Google used to do 20% - 20% - 20% - 40% over a period of 4 years. So, after 4 years, the employee will be 100% vested. If the employee left after three years, then he will only have 60% of the stock.

Equity for private companies like SpaceX is still pretty valuable. You can't sell those like publicly traded companies. However, there are companies out there that are willing to pay for those. Usually at around 60 to 75% of the company's valuation.

[diller]

That's why american politics look so funny to non-americans. People argue about who is conservative and who is progressive, yet in many other countries that is mostly defined by economic policies. In the US this has been redefined to niche issues that shouldn't even affect the overwhelming majority of people, while even most so-called progressives would pass for conservatives elswhere, with a few exceptions. It's a fantastical smokescreen to trick the masses.

I think it's a problem that some Americans like to use Liberal and Left wing as if they were interchangeable.

To the rest of the world it doesn't make sense because everywhere outside the US Liberal is used to describe free market capitalism where in the US it's only used for social issues.

[Rasulis]

All the tech layoffs may actually be good for the economy.

Almost 25% of Laid-off Tech Workers Start Their Own Businesses

A survey shows that huge swathes of tech workers who've been fired from their jobs start their own companies shortly after.

[Edge-]

So in addition to apparently needing to hire back on a bunch of engineers and reconsider "HARDCORE TWITTER 2.0" as basically none of their remaining engineering staff expressed any interest in that nonsense, Elon is temporarily closing Twitter offices. Like, as in you cannot enter the building even with your badge.

https://twitter.com/ZoeSchiffer/stat...91604785504257

Why? Well apparently... - https://twitter.com/ZoeSchiffer/stat...91954301054976

We're hearing this is because Elon Musk and his team are terrified employees are going to sabotage the company. Also, they're still trying to figure out which Twitter workers they need to cut access for.

Holy shit how does this keep getting more and more hilarious?

[postman1782]

OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH SHIT. The tea is hot on Twitter about Elon Musk. From the evidence provided, his degree might be fake that he got a "Bachelor of Arts", instead of a Bachelor of Science, with no program listed.

https://twitter.com/capitolhunters/s...07541932474368
Just in case they delete the thread: https://archive.ph/gzGpF

Seems that Elon Musk, came to this country to go to school and only would have been able to stay here if he had a degree. Seems they faked it to keep him here.

@Edge- this might be one reason.

[Edge-]

OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH SHIT. The tea is hot on Twitter about Elon Musk. From the evidence provided, his degree might be fake that he got a "Bachelor of Arts", instead of a Bachelor of Science, with no program listed.

https://twitter.com/capitolhunters/s...07541932474368
Just in case they delete the thread: https://archive.ph/gzGpF

Seems that Elon Musk, came to this country to go to school and only would have been able to stay here if he had a degree. Seems they faked it to keep him here.

@Edge- this might be one reason.

I'm seeing that starting to do the rounds, doubt this has any direct relationship and I haven't bothered digging into it to look into the validity of the claims, but boy is it some Thursday afternoon popcorn material!

[postman1782]

I'm seeing that starting to do the rounds, doubt this has any direct relationship and I haven't bothered digging into it to look into the validity of the claims, but boy is it some Thursday afternoon popcorn material!

Oh definitely. It shows he is an illegal immigrant, or at least he was. Don't know about now, but he lied to stay in the country, just like Trump's mail order bride.

[jonnysensible]

All the tech layoffs may actually be good for the economy.

gr8 cant wait for a bunch of SV types to start pitching startups for disrupting sausages and houseplants that spy on you.

[Edge-]

gr8 cant wait for a bunch of SV types to start pitching startups for disrupting sausages and houseplants that spy on you.

What are you talking about, they're disrupting industries everywhere.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...icle-1.3494235

Remember that time they invented the vending machine in the year 2017? Them shits didn't even come with bodega cats or the dude behind the counter that was either almost uncomfortably nice or legit never acknowledged your existence and just rang your shit up.

https://twitter.com/Bodegacats_

Look at those adorable fucks, techbros can't compete with that shit.