Social network
Twitter is to lay off 8% of its workforce. Twitter, which has headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA, was founded in 2006 and is one of the key social networks alongside names like Facebook. It offers users the ability to post ‘Tweets’, which are 140-character messages. The service is recognized as being a very good source of trending news and information but has been struggling over recent years and has yet to generate profit. The layoffs impact 336 of the 4,100 staff the company employees globally.
The news was announced yesterday (October 13, 2015) and comes after Jack Dorsey was made the company’s permanent Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on October 5, 2015. It is seen as part of an overall strategy designed to bring the company to profitability. Twitter staff received the news via an email sent by Mr. Dorsey which outlined the need to establish a “streamlined roadmap" for Twitter and sister services Periscope and Vine.
The layoffs will cost the company between $10 million to $20 million in severance packages. The total downsizing cost is could reach as much as $15 million.
“We are moving forward with a restructuring of our workforce so we can put our company on a stronger path to grow,” suggested Mr. Dorsey’s email. “Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I’m going to give it to you straight. The team has been working around the clock to produce streamlined roadmap for Twitter, Vine, and Periscope and they are shaping up to be strong. The roadmap is focused on the experiences which will have the greatest impact. We launched the first of these experiences last week with Moments, a great beginning, and a bold peek into the future of how people will see what’s going on in the world.”
“We feel strongly that Engineering will move much faster with a smaller and nimbler team, while remaining the biggest percentage of our workforce,” he added. “And the rest of the organization will be streamlined in parallel. So we have made an extremely tough decision: we plan to part ways with up to 336 people from across the company. We are doing this with the utmost respect for each and every person. Twitter will go to great lengths to take care of each individual by providing generous exit packages and help finding a new job.”
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