Jake Denton of the Heritage Foundation breaks down some of the biggest changes Elon Musk is implementing on Twitter in “The Evening Edit”.
Less than a week after officially closes $44 billion acquisition to make Twitter private at $54.20 per share, Elon Musk has already revealed major changes for the social media platform.
Twitter stock, which was suspended from trading on October 28, is expected to be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on November 8.
Below is a FOX Business recap of the top five moves the world’s richest man has announced or made in his first week as the new owner of Twitter.
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1. Disband Twitter’s Board of Directors
According to an 8-K filing on Thursday, Elon Musk became Twitter’s sole director after disbanding its board of directors. The board included chairman Bret Taylor, former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and members Omid Kordestani, David Rosenblatt, Martha Lane Fox, Patrick Pichette, Egon Durban, Fei-Fei Li and Mimi Alemayehou.
Musk said in a tweet on Monday that the change was “only temporary.”
People helping Musk reshape the company in the meantime include Jared Birchall, Musk’s head of family office, his attorney Alex Spiro, angel investor Jason Calacanis, founding chief operating officer of PayPal and capital- venture capitalist David Sacks, Twitter security and integrity officer Yoel Roth and Sriram Krishnan, former Twitter executive and general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
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2. Fire senior executives
Following the completion of its acquisition, Musk dismissed Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s Head of Legal, Policy and Trust. General Counsel Sean Edgett also confirmed on Twitter that he was no longer with the company after multiple outlets reported he was involved in the layoffs.
Additionally, chief customer officer Sarah Personette and director of human resources and diversity Dalana Brand have both resigned.
Twitter employees have worried for months about the possibility of major layoffs at the company owned by Musk.
The Washington Post reported last month that Musk planned to lay off 75% of Twitter’s workforce, a move that would reduce its workforce from around 7,500 employees to around 2,000. However, Bloomberg reported that Musk denied the 75% figure. A separate Post report on Monday suggested an initial round of layoffs would target 25% of Twitter’s workforce.
Musk challenged a “false” New York Times report that Twitter’s layoffs would take place before November 1 to avoid paying stock awards to employees.
In May, Musk said Twitter would be “super focused on software engineering, design, infosec and server hardware” after its takeover was completed. In response to a user’s question on Sunday about what was “the most messed up” on Twitter, Musk replied that “there seems to be 10 people ‘managing’ for every person coding.”
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3. Get Tesla engineers to review Twitter code
Bloomberg News reported last week that Twitter engineers were unable to make changes to the platform’s code after Musk brought in a team of Tesla engineers to review it and explain what the business needed.
According to CNBC, the team consists of more than 50 software engineers. Notable Tesla employees brought in would include:
– Director of Software Development Ashok Elluswamy
– Director of Tesla Autopilot and Bot Engineering Milan Kovic
– Senior Director of Software Engineering Maha Virduhagiri
– Pete Scheutzow, Senior Personnel Technical Program Manager
– Senior Security Intelligence Officer Jake Nocon
Additionally, two employees from Musk’s tunneling firm The Boring Company and one from his neurotech company Neuralink have reportedly been cleared to work at Twitter.
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4. Launched Content Moderation Board and Revamped Twitter Verification
Musk has announced plans to form a content moderation council with “widely divergent views.” The group will include representatives from the civil rights community and groups dealing with hate-fueled violence.
“Twitter will not allow anyone who has been removed from the platform for violating Twitter rules until we have a clear process to do so, which will take at least a few more weeks,” he said. he tweeted on Wednesday.
He also revealed new details on Tuesday about his plans to revamp Twitter’s user verification process. Twitter Blue subscribers in the US will get a blue check mark on their profile for $8 per month. Musk added that prices will be “adjusted by country in proportion to purchasing power parity.”
In addition to the blue tick, Twitter Blue will offer users priority in replies, mentions and search, the ability to post long videos and audio, half the ads and a “paywall bypass” for publishers wishing to work with the company.
The move will give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators and help the company in its efforts to combat spam and fake accounts.
“If a paid Blue account engages in spam/scams, that account will be suspended,” Musk warned. “Essentially, this increases the cost of crime on Twitter by orders of magnitude.”
5. The revival of the vine?
On Sunday, Musk released a poll of his followers asking if they want the short-form video platform Vine to make a comeback. Of the more than 4.9 million users who voted, more than 69% were in favor of the decision, compared to around 30% who voted against.
Sources told Axios that a possible reboot of Vine could be ready by the end of the year.