You’re being downvoted at the moment, but if that timeline plays out I can definitely see copycat behavior in smaller companies, especially among the hustle culture bros.

Completely agree. Elon is so worshipped that just him doing this has already emboldened the financial analysts and wannabe founder types to more ruthlessly question total comp numbers and hiring. Everyone who works in technology should be worried. Whether it’s correct or not, what looks like waste and excess to the business class who are used to the “hard facts” of balance sheets could look to someone else like one of the few labor sectors on the planet where workers are paid something near what they are worth. Silicon Valley is the land of fat peasants. This is the beginning of the lords and ladies tightening the peasant’s belts.

"Elon is so worshipped"

Is that really still the case? Most of the time I read something about Elon the comment section is very negative, compared to some years ago and it seems rare to encounter a Musk fanboy anymore.

Nobody worshipped him anyway. Musk is openly against some major progressive liberal and left viewpoints. And he is an awkward impulsive super billionaire. So naturally there is a sour crowd here.

> it seems rare to encounter a Musk fanboy anymore

Can we swap internets? I see plenty of them just in the comments under this story, never mind elsewhere.

> Yes, this is what people really need to be worried about.

Ah yes, the what if I’m really not only ineffective, but a net negative on my company and they find out anxiety.

It's more: what if I'm superficially similar to very different people in a very different company who are a net negative on their company.

I'm not worried. I've lived out what happens when activist investor know-it-all types come in and gut a company thinking they and their sycophant yes-men are smarter than everyone that came before. That isn't to say that Elon can't improve twitter as a business, but most CEOs aren't Elon, and even Elon is more hot air than substance.

this is the story of most newspapers, same shit happened to the entire industry the past 20 years

Most CEOs aren't Jack Welsh, and yet most of them implemented stack ranking. This persists even when it seems to demonstrably harm the companies.

So dropping 50% even if it harms the company may become a major move.

> into a profitable adtech powerhouse

Isn't one of his stated goals for Twitter to become much less reliant on advertising income? Hence the whole Twitter Blue $8/month thing.