Elon Musk, who bought out Twitter last week, said the current ratio of people “managing” to actually coding is the “most messed up” thing about the company at the moment.
Responding to a fan’s message asking him “what’s the one thing that’s most messed up at twitter right now?” Musk replied, “There seem to be 10 people ‘managing’ for every one person coding.”
Another Twitter user responded to his comment, sharing a picture of a group of people with various manager labels standing around and watching a single man dig a whole. “Worst economics, indeed,” the user tweeted.
“Pretty much,” Musk replied.
It’s not clear that Musk’s ratio of employees “managing” compared to actually coding at Twitter is exactly accurate, but Musk has reportedly told investors he plans to fire up to 75 percent of the company’s current workforce. Such a downsizing effort would bring Twitter’s current workforce from about 7,500 people to around 2,000.
On Monday, the Washington Post reported that people close to Musk said he is planning to cut 25 percent of Twitter’s workforce in just the first round of firings.
Large scale staffing cuts could free up some of the money the platform otherwise spends on payroll. Still, it remains to be seen how deeply Musk will actually cut into Twitter’s workforce now that he has control of the platform.
Last month, Wedbush investment analyst Dan Ives told the Associated Press said cuts alone won’t help Musk meet his goals for the platform.
“A 75 percent headcount cut would indicate, at least out of the gates, stronger free cash flow and profitability, which would be attractive to investors looking to get in on the deal,” Ives told the Associated Press. “That said, you can’t cut your way to growth.”
Musk has made several indications his disagreement with Twitter’s past content moderation inspired his effort to take over the platform. On Friday, Musk said Twitter’s “content moderation policies” have not been changed at this time, but he wants to form a “content moderation council” with a diverse set of viewpoints to discuss new moderation decisions and account reinstatements before moving forward on those changes.
