Musk addressed the pain on the side of running social media
A Conversation with Musk about his Time at a Financial Company, and Why he Decided to Take the Risk of Losing His Social Media
He said that there were about 1,500 staffers on the payroll, down from about 8,000 when he took over. The company was four months from going bankrupt anddrastic action was necessary, he said. It was not fun to fire people, he said, adding that not everyone had been told in person.
The world’s second richest man said that “drastic action” was needed when he came on board, because the company was facing “a $3 billion negative cash flow situation.” He estimated that there was only four months left to live.
Musk also cracked jokes during the interview, saying that he was “no longer the CEO of Twitter” and had been replaced by his pet dog, a Shiba Inu named Floki.
On why he bought Twitter: Mr. Musk admitted that he went ahead with the $44 billion acquisition because he believed he would lose his legal case to try and back out of it. Buying Twitter has come with “emotional strain,” he added, saying running it had been “painful.” He said buying it was the right thing to do even after all this time.
