Elon Musk’s tenure at Twitter got even bumpier on Thursday, as he reportedly told employees during an emergency all-hands meeting that he can't rule out the company filing for bankruptcy in the next year.
Musk made the announcement during the all-hands meeting after an employee asked about the company’s current run rate, according to both The Information and Platformer managing editor Zoë Schiffer.
Musk also reportedly told employees that if they weren’t physically at the office 40 hours a week, they might as well file their resignation letters. Musk has been adamant about workers returning to the office, even though Twitter previously allowed employees to work from anywhere.
Several Twitter executives have stepped down within the company in recent days including chief information security officer Lea Kissner, who announced that they were leaving the firm early Thursday.
In addition to Kissner, Twitter’s head of ad sales, Robin Wheeler, and head of Trust and Safety, Yoel Roth, have left the company. Wheeler hosted a Twitter Q&A with Musk on Wednesday designed to help assuage advertisers’ concerns that it won’t be able to moderate user content enough to prevent the spread of misinformation and hate speech.
The turmoil comes as Musk attempts to monetize Twitter in any way, including by introducing a controversial $8 per month verification badge. But trolls have already found a way to abuse the service by signing up for new accounts, purchasing a badge and masquerading as influential figures and companies including LeBron James and Nintendo of America.
In a rare move, the Federal Trade Commission issued a warning to Twitter, with a spokesperson saying the commission is watching the company “with deep concern.”
Musk took over Twitter last week, finalizing a $44 billion deal that he initially tried to back out of. Since then, he’s fired the company’s C-suite, dissolved its board, and taken the company private.
A number of big name advertisers including Volkswagen, GM, and General Mills have pulled or paused their advertising campaigns amid concerns that Musk will make good on his prior promise to loosen platform moderation.
Since then Musk has vacillated between threatening to call out the companies publicly and trying to win them back to his side by promising to make the platform a welcoming place.
Last week, Musk laid off some 3,700 Twitter employees, or roughly half of its workforce.
Correction: Twitter laid off 3,700 workers. A prior version of this article misstated that number.
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