‘No way to sugarcoat the message’: Musk bans remote work in first e-mail to Twitter staff

SAN FRANCISCO – New Twitter owner Elon Musk e-mailed his workers for the first time late on Wednesday to prepare them for “difficult times ahead”.

He said there was “no way to sugarcoat the message” about the economic outlook and how it will affect an advertising-dependent company like Twitter, according to the e-mail reviewed by Bloomberg News.

He said remote work will no longer be allowed and employees will be expected to be in the office for at least 40 hours per week, subject to exceptions he himself would approve.

Twitter has been under Mr Musk’s leadership for close to two weeks, in which time he has

dismissed roughly half its workforce

and most of its executive suite.

The new boss has

upped the price for the Twitter Blue subscription to US$8 (S$11)

and attached user verification to it.

Mr Musk told workers in the e-mail that he wants to see subscriptions account for half of Twitter’s revenue. BLOOMBERG