• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic

3

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic

3

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Tech

Elon Musk lays off more Twitter employees, including hardcore loyalists: ‘Looks like I’m let go’

Steve Mollman
By
Steve Mollman
Steve Mollman
Contributors Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
Steve Mollman
By
Steve Mollman
Steve Mollman
Contributors Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 26, 2023, 2:29 PM ET
Photo of Elon Musk
Twitter CEO Elon Musk isn’t done firing employees.Marlena Sloss—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Twitter conducted an unexpected round of layoffs this weekend as the company struggles with plunging revenue and aggressive cost cutting under CEO Elon Musk.

The Information first reported on the layoffs, saying the company let go of at least 50 employees on Saturday across different departments, including engineers who help keep the social network running.

The layoffs also included “hardcore Musk loyalists,” tweeted Zoë Schiffer, who covers the company closely for Platformer. She added that the layoffs included “a ton of surprises.” For instance, she tweeted, among the laid-off was Esther Crawford, chief executive of Twitter Payments. In early November, Crawford tweeted, “When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #SleepWhereYouWork.”

One senior product manager, Martijn de Kuijper, tweeted that he’d been locked out of his email account. De Kuijper, who founded Revue, an editorial newsletter tool Twitter acquired in 2021, tweeted: “Waking up to find I’ve been locked out of my email. Looks like I’m let go. Now my Revue journey is really over.”

Fortune has reached out to Twitter and will update this story with any reply.

Since Musk took over the company in October last year, Twitter’s headcount has fallen by over 70%, and its chief source of revenue, advertising, has fallen significantly. 

The company has seen some technical glitches amid the turmoil. On Feb. 8, Twitter users across North America were unable to send messages, with an error message saying they were “over the daily limit for sending tweets.”

“Twitter may not be working as expected for some of you. Sorry for the trouble. We’re aware and working to get this fixed,” the company tweeted.

Musk has attempted to generate revenue in other ways besides advertising, but so far those efforts have done little to improve the company’s financial position. Among the initiatives has been Twitter Blue, a monthly subscription service that includes a blue verification check mark. That service got off to a rocky start when trolls used it to impersonate brands and celebrities. According to the Information, by the middle of last month only about 180,000 users had signed up for the service.

Many advertisers have been wary of where Musk, a self-described “free-speech absolutist,” would take the platform. That didn’t stop Musk from wading into various touchy topics this weekend, even amid the layoffs.

Musk came to the defense of Scott Adams, creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, after newspapers across the country canceled it for comments they called “racist,” “hateful,” and “discriminatory.” Adams had described people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.”

Musk tweeted: “For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians. Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist.”

Musk also this weekend applauded a Saturday Night Live opening monologue by Woody Harrelson touching on COVID vaccines and the pandemic. The actor talked about one of the “craziest scripts” he’s read.

“So the movie goes like this,” the actor explained. “The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes. And people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drugs and keep taking them over and over.

“I threw the script away,” he then joked. “I mean, who was going to believe that crazy idea? Being forced to do drugs? I do that voluntarily all day.”

Must tweeted in reply, “So based. Nice work @nbcsnl!” 

When one Twitter wrote, “Get ready for the meltdowns,” Musk replied: “Maybe they [media outlets] don’t realize that their propaganda is wrong?”

Musk also chimed in on the origins of the pandemic after the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department was leaning toward the COVID lab-leak theory, joining the FBI in that regard.

When fellow PayPal alum David Sacks shared the article and tweeted that Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and others were behind a disinformation campaign about the lab origins of the coronavirus, Musk replied, “Exactly.”

Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter examining what leaders need to succeed. Sign up here.

About the Author
Steve Mollman
By Steve MollmanContributors Editor
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Steve Mollman is a contributors editor at Fortune.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

erik
AIJobs
‘It’s not going away’: The Stanford economist who called the AI entry-level jobs crisis early has the receipts
By Nick LichtenbergJune 27, 2026
1 hour ago
Robert Shiller, professor of economics at Yale University
AIEconomics
Nobel laureate economist warns AI jobs apocalypse fears could become a self-fulfilling prophesy
By Eva RoytburgJune 27, 2026
3 hours ago
One in 10 Gen Zers want their boss to be replaced by AI—they’re already being polite to ChatGPT just in case
SuccessGen Z
One in 10 Gen Zers want their boss to be replaced by AI—they’re already being polite to ChatGPT just in case
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJune 27, 2026
4 hours ago
Photo of Elon Musk
C-SuiteElon Musk
‘Don’t look at the résumé’: Elon Musk admits he’s ‘fallen prey’ to flashy credentials and says conversation matters most when hiring
By Jacqueline MunisJune 27, 2026
4 hours ago
Microsoft executive Jacob Andreou poses for a photo wearing a black suit jacket, with a tan background behind him.
AIMicrosoft
The 33-year-old executive Satya Nadella is trusting to fix Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant
By Sebastian HerreraJune 27, 2026
5 hours ago
Big Short legend Steve Eisman says everyone is buying the wrong AI stocks
InvestingFinance
Big Short legend Steve Eisman says everyone is buying the wrong AI stocks
By Shawn TullyJune 27, 2026
7 hours ago

Most Popular

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
2 days ago
Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic
Success
Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJune 24, 2026
3 days ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
4 hours ago
Current price of oil as of June 26, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 26, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 26, 2026
1 day ago
Ray Dalio says the U.S. just had its 'Suez moment'—and history says what comes next could end an empire
Economy
Ray Dalio says the U.S. just had its 'Suez moment'—and history says what comes next could end an empire
By Nick LichtenbergJune 26, 2026
1 day ago
The bond market knows something about the $39 trillion national debt that Washington doesn’t
Economy
The bond market knows something about the $39 trillion national debt that Washington doesn’t
By Eva RoytburgJune 25, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.