Twitter Works to Soothe Anxious Staffers Wondering ‘Why Bother?’

(Bloomberg) -- At a Twitter Inc. staff meeting Wednesday morning, the first slide of a presentation asked a question on the minds of many employees: “Why Bother?” 

Why show up and build stuff for an app that’s about to be in the hands of a new owner, Elon Musk, who has said he plans to make serious changes? Why keep earning stock options at a company that’s about to go private? The presenter, product vice president Jay Sullivan, tried to appeal to workers’ sense of community, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Sullivan told employees that they have a responsibility to each other, and to a product used by hundreds of millions of people, which hosts the world’s most urgent and important public conversations. They’re all in this together, he added, according to the people, who asked not to be named sharing internal discussions.

Twitter, which employs more than 7,500 people, warned about a possible staff exodus in a regulatory filing this week. Musk told bankers that he was considering cost cuts, including layoffs, as part of his plan to grow Twitter.

The company is unlikely to maintain the same management after Musk takes over, which won’t happen for several months if the deal closes. In the meantime, Twitter says it won’t make major hires or major changes to its product, decreasing incentive to stay. Musk has also made clear he has a different philosophy on Twitter’s content moderation, which is already affecting employees who work on advertising and policy.

Twitter declined to comment.

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