Elon Musk has said that he was forced to fire half of his Twitter staff, following a tweet that went viral. In an interview with CNBC, Musk claims that it was a “mistake” for him to hire anyone in the first place. He says he only hired a small team because the platform is so easy to use, but then his tweet about taking Tesla private went viral and he realized that this wasn’t sustainable.
The Tesla CEO revealed he fired all but one member of the social media team after seeing a “trend” in tweets that didn’t reflect well on him or his company.
He explained: “We had too many people on it, so [I] had to lay off 50% of them.”
Elon Musk says he had no choice but to be cruel to his workers.
Elon Musk Defends His Decision
The Tesla CEO took to Twitter on Friday to defend himself against the backlash he’s received after firing half of his Twitter staff, despite having previously promised that he would not fire anyone else in 2019.
In a series of tweets, Musk claimed that “if I don’t understand something, it is wrong,” and said that while some people might agree with him, they are not able to see both sides of the issue like he does.
He then went on an impassioned rant about how difficult it is for him as a human being: “It hurts me more than anything else in life when someone I care about doesn’t appreciate what I do for them.”
In a world where CEOs are often criticized for not being human enough, Elon Musk is a breath of fresh air. He’s willing to admit when he makes mistakes, and he cares deeply about his employees—even if it means firing half of them on Twitter. Elon Musk has proven time and time again that he’s an unconventional leader who doesn’t play by the rules. Because of this, it might be some time before we see another CEO like him.
