Elon Musk
ordered the end of remote work for most Twitter Inc. employees, in his first email to the whole company since taking over late last month. The memo came amid more turmoil in the senior ranks at the company, with Twitter’s chief information security officer departing.
“There is no way to sugarcoat the message,” Mr. Musk wrote in the overnight email, according to a copy of the message viewed by The Wall Street Journal. “The economic picture ahead is dire, especially for a company like ours that is so dependent on advertising in a challenging economic climate.”
Mr. Musk also said in the email that Twitter needs roughly half of its revenue to come from subscriptions. The email was reported previously by Bloomberg News.
“The road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed,” Mr. Musk wrote.
He said that remote work is no longer allowed, unless an employee is granted a specific exception.
Starting Thursday, Twitter employees are required to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours a week, Mr. Musk said in the email. “Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable,” Mr. Musk wrote.
Separately, Twitter’s chief information security officer, Lea Kissner, said they left the company.
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“I’ve made the hard decision to leave Twitter,” Mx. Kissner, who uses the gender-neutral honorific, tweeted early Thursday.
On Wednesday, Mx. Kissner resigned after a disagreement, people familiar with the matter said. The specific nature of the dispute couldn’t immediately be learned.
The CISO’s departure represents the latest in a string of exits by Twitter executives since Mr. Musk took over the company two weeks ago.
Mr. Musk fired Chief Executive
Parag Agrawal
and three other top executives shortly after closing the deal to acquire Twitter. Other executives have left since, including Chief Customer Officer
Sarah Personette
and Chief Marketing Officer
Leslie Berland.
Twitter also carried out sweeping layoffs last week, cutting about half its staff. At the start of the year, Twitter had reported roughly 7,500 employees.
The end of remote work represents a change in Twitter’s policy. In 2020, Twitter said that most employees would be able to work where they feel most productive, whether from home, in the office or some combination.
Write to Alexa Corse at [email protected] and Robert McMillan at [email protected]
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