Staff at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters have been asked to salute billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk as he nears acquisition of the company.
Musk threatened to fire 75% of the company and take it private.
During his visit to Twitter headquarters on Wednesday, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX arrived with a porcelain sink.
“Walking into Twitter headquarters – let him in!” he wrote on his Twitter account.
His visit comes ahead of Friday’s deadline to finalize his purchase of the company, according to an internal memo acquired by The New York Times.
The NYT tech reporter took to the platform to say Twitter Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland encouraged SF office workers to get up and “say hello!” to Musk. Twitter and Musk have been contacted for comment by The Standard.
Musk first agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April. Weeks later, however, he alleged that the company downplayed the number of inauthentic bot accounts on the site, effectively claiming that Twitter had falsely inflated the size of its user base.
Then, in early October, he changed course again and decided to go ahead with the deal after Twitter sued him for breaking their agreement.
Musk’s promise to dump the company comes at a time when downtown SF faces a epic real estate crash related to its inability to reinstate workers in its many offices.
During a town hall with Twitter employees held earlier this year, Musk raised the potential for layoffs. He said the company “needs to get back to health” and that “anyone who contributes meaningfully shouldn’t have to worry.”
The immediate prospects of the neighborhood is dark. A glimpse of the tall office buildings in the downtown Mid-Market district looks more like a Who’s Left list than a Who’s Who; offices could empty further as leases signed by Block, Uber, Airbnb and DoorDash expire over the next few years.
Although some developers are betting on a rebound, it has nothing to do with the money that was pouring in just a few years ago.
For its part, Twitter has consolidated all of its San Francisco offices into its 1355 Market St. location, where it currently occupies 379,000 square feet.
This lease is currently set to expire in 2028; via a spokesperson, Twitter previously told The Standard that it does not disclose the geographical distribution of its employees, but that it remains “committed to the market”. But that was before recent revelations about Musk’s downsizing plans.
Comments are closed.