'A Fork in the Road': extremely hardcore ultimatum

From:: Elon Musk
Date:: November 16, 2022
To:: All Twitter employees
Subject:: A Fork in the Road

Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade. Twitter will also be much more engineering-driven. Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway. At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so l think this makes sense. If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below: [Link removed] Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance. Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful. Elon

About this email

Musk tells staff that Twitter 2.0 will require being 'extremely hardcore', with long hours at high intensity, and gives them until 5pm ET the next day to click yes or leave with three months of severance.

Notes

Sent late on the night of Nov. 15-16, 2022; first reported by The Washington Post. Link to the opt-in form removed by CNBC. The email later featured in severance litigation and arbitration by former Twitter employees.

Where it came from

Leaked to press; attribution widely reported.

Twitter/X, company-wide memo. Tags: work-ethic, ultimatum, hardcore, severance, twitter-2.0

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