Business as usual at Twitter's Asia-Pac HQ in Singapore

Projects and operations are proceeding as usual at Twitter's Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, but pay-related issues weigh on the minds of employees as the company prepares to go private.

Several Twitter employees said yesterday they were not overly concerned with potential job cuts, but issues like compensation packages and stock options are still up in the air ahead of billionaire Elon Musk's planned takeover.

The company on Tuesday announced that it had accepted the Tesla chief executive's offer to buy it for US$44 billion (S$61 billion).

"When the company is delisted, those of us holding stock options will have to renegotiate our contracts and pay structure," said one employee. "We don't really know much more than the public does right now, so many of us are in a wait-and-see mode."

Media reports, citing anonymous sources familiar with Mr Musk's discussions with bankers, suggested he had considered cuts to jobs and other costs to improve Twitter's financials. But Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal told employees there are no plans for layoffs, according to a Reuters report.

One employee who spoke to The Straits Times noted that Mr Musk had not yet taken on any official positions within Twitter, and made his comments as a potential investor seeking financing.

"My interpretation of those reports was that he needed to offer some ideas about how to improve the company's profits, which have been stagnant for some time," said the employee. "It is too early to speculate about retrenchments when the deal isn't even finalised yet. I don't expect to be retrenched, but if it happens, it happens. We can always find new jobs as our skills are in high demand."

Staff also said there had been no changes to their work priorities, processes or ongoing projects since the takeover bid.

"The message was that it is business as usual until the deal is closed," said one employee.

On Thursday, The Business Times reported that Twitter had called off a planned event to officially open a new 22,000 sq ft extension to its headquarters in the CapitaGreen building in Market Street, which would nearly double the size of its office space.

The event had been scheduled to take place on Thursday, but was cancelled the day before. Twitter declined comment.

Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo had been slated to deliver opening remarks at the event. The minister visited the office on Thursday despite the cancellation and had a closed-door meeting with Twitter executives, as part of her ministry's regular engagements with the industry, said the BT report.

ST understands Twitter has nearly 400 staff in Singapore, including more than 50 in technical roles like software engineering.

In January, the company said it would double the number of engineers to over 100 by next year.

The Singapore centre is led by Mr Silvanus Lee.

Mr Musk's offer has also ignited debates over free speech and censorship, and the role of social media platforms like Twitter in democracies. Mr Musk has vowed to turn Twitter into a "bastion of free speech", but his critics have expressed concerns that this would include allowing hate speech to proliferate and lead to more online abuse.

A local employee said the Singapore office and other Asia-Pacific locations are focused primarily on sales and operations. "Ultimately, I think the company's values are not so misaligned with what Elon values, like free speech, and so on. We just differ on how to get it done. If he takes over, he might start to understand how difficult it is."