‘Hardcore’ won’t save you: Twitter workers who committed to sticking with Elon Musk have reportedly been laid off

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Elon Musk has been on a job-cutting spree since he took over Twitter in October. First, top executives were ousted, then about half of all workers were cut in a massive purge.

Last week, with only roughly half of the company remaining, Musk sent an ultimatum to Twitter workers in a company-wide email, asking employees to commit to his Twitter 2.0 mission and be “extremely hardcore,” or leave the company.

Around 1,000 to 1,200 people chose to leave, according to preliminary data shared with Fortune by a source at the company. But several employees chose to stay for the new Musk regime that he said would include “long hours at high intensity.”

But some sales employees who chose to stay, and signed up for Musk’s new vision of Twitter, were reportedly still fired, the Wall Street Journal reported late Monday.

Employees were told in an email that their roles were no longer necessary. It remains unclear which departments or roles were subject to these cuts.

Twitter did not immediately return Fortune’s request for comment.

Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and officially took the reins of the San Francisco-based company on Oct. 28. In his first-ever email to employees of the San Francisco-based company on Nov.10, he reversed Twitter’s permanent remote work set-up by banning it.

Earlier in November, the social media giant launched Twitter Blue, a subscription service costing $7.99 per month for the verification check-mark on accounts. That program was pulled back shortly after being rolled out as it was abused by imposters and frauds who paid for the authentic blue tick and assumed the guise of a well-known personality. In one memorable instance, an account that bought a blue checkmark pretended they were pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, and tweeted that insulin was now free (it is not).

Last week, Musk tweeted that he planned to relaunch Twitter Blue on Nov. 29 after making sure it was “rock solid.” However, on Monday, he announced that the plan would be pushed further and may use “different color check for organizations than individuals.”
 
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1594861031670820864?s=20&t=pRpESR_5wIvf3cMKJTQ1tA

And last Saturday, Musk took a poll on Twitter, asking if people wanted former President Donald Trump’s account reinstated. Nearly 15 million votes later, Trump’s account was reactivated after it was suspended following the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at Capitol Hill.