Linda Yaccarino On Elon Musk Firing Over 80% X Employees: 'Very Necessary Cost Discipline Exercise'

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X (formerly Twitter), has called Elon Musk's controversial decision to fire over 80% of the social media platform's staff a "very necessary cost discipline exercise".

What Happened: Yaccarino justified Musk's aggressive layoffs at X as a necessary measure to control costs after the company fired 7,500 out of its 8,000-strong employee base, reported CNBC.

See Also: Linda Yaccarino Spills The Beans On Why Elon Musk Morphed Twitter Into X: ‘Sticking To The Old Brand Often Results In…’

Musk had been vocal about cost control at X even before he took over the company, and it's not a surprise that he implemented his vision aggressively after obtaining operational control.

Like his other moves, X layoffs were also very public and controversial, drawing criticism from different quarters. In some of these instances, Musk has allegedly given no due consideration to norms like severance packages. Despite this, X was able to ward off two proposed class action lawsuits.

Musk Blamed ‘Drop In Revenue': Back in November last year, amidst widespread layoffs, Musk blamed a "massive" drop in revenue for trimming the company's costs.

"Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists," he said at the time.

Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.

Extremely messed up! They're trying to destroy free speech in America.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022

Amidst all this, Musk also stirred a major controversy by mocking a disabled employee, alleging that they "did no actual work".

I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful.

He is considering remaining at Twitter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

He subsequently backpedaled and issued an apology, but not before it caused a huge uproar.

I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful.

He is considering remaining at Twitter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

For now, though, Yaccarino says that the headcount has stabilized at nearly 1,500, suggesting that the company is settling down now. It remains to be seen if X and Musk expand the employee base again or maintain operating with this lean frame.

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