Elon Emails

First all-staff email: remote work ends, dire economy

From:
Elon Musk
Date:
November 9, 2022 (Sent late on Nov. 9 Pacific time (about 2:39 a.m. ET Nov. 10 per Business Insider))
To:
All Twitter employees
Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company but there is no way to sugarcoat the message. Frankly, the economic picture ahead is dire especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate. Moreover, 70% of our advertising is brand, rather than specific performance, which makes us doubly vulnerable! That is why the priority over the past ten days has been to develop and launch Twitter Blue Verified subscriptions (huge props to the team!). Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn. We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription. Of course, we will still then be significantly reliant on advertising, so I am spending time with our sales & partnerships teams to ensure that Twitter continues to be appealing to advertisers. This is the Spaces discussion that Robin, Yoel and I hosted today: [Link to Elon Q&A: Advertising & the Future removed] The road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed. We are also changing Twitter policy such that remote work is no longer allowed unless you have a specific exception. Managers will send the exception lists to me for review and approval. Starting tomorrow (Thursday), everyone is required to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable. I look forward to working with you to take Twitter to a whole new level. The potential is truly incredible! Thanks, Elon

About this email

In his first company-wide email, Musk warns the economic picture is dire, says Twitter needs half its revenue from subscriptions to survive, and ends remote work with a 40-hour in-office minimum starting the next day.

Notes

CNBC removed the Spaces link. Business Insider's transcription differs trivially (e.g. 'exceptions lists', 'review an approval').

Where it came from

Leaked to press; attribution widely reported.

Twitter/X, company-wide memo. Tags: remote-work, subscriptions, advertising, twitter-blue, economy