Twitter closed its offices until Monday, November 21, according to an official statement to staff.
The company did not give a reason for the decision but reports are there are simply too many people quitting. Elon Musk was quoted to say that “the best people are staying” and he isn’t “super worried”.
Musk’s plans to make Twitter more financially stable included selling a blue Verified tick to anyone willing to pay $8 per month, as well as terminating half of the workforce to try and minimize expenses.
Twitter staff had time until yesterday, November 17, to sign a pledge for long hours or leave with three months’ severance pay.
Former employees are tweeting that anywhere between 74% and 90% of the workforce decided to go for the compensation instead of being “extremely hardcore” and returning to the office.
One former worker told BBC they expect less than 2,000 people to stay, which is about a fourth of the initial workforce of 7,500. They also revealed their whole team has been terminated, while another employee stated: