Twitter to shed 300+ jobs

Twitter is set to undergo a major restructure, with more than 300 of the company’s employees set to lose their jobs.

According to an internal email sent out by founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, the job losses aren’t just about Twitter restructuring its workforce, but also part of the company’s bid to change how it works, and what it needs to do that work.

“Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I’m going to give it to you straight,” Dorsey writes, before commending the work done “to produce streamlined roadmap[sic] for Twitter, Vine, and Periscope”.

All three products, he says, “are shaping up to be strong”. Apparently not strong enough to prevent Twitter from having to retrench 336 employees though. Those 336 employees represent around eight percent of Twitter’s workforce.

“We are doing this with the utmost respect for each and every person,” writes Dorsey, before promising that “Twitter will go to great lengths to take care of each individual by providing generous exit packages and help finding a new job”.

Most of the losses, it seems, will come from the company’s product and engineering divisions.

According to the mail, Twitter’s future lies in products such as Moments. Dorsey calls the new product, launched last week, “a great beginning, and a bold peek into the future of how people will see what’s going on in the world”.

Whether that turns out the case remains to be seen, but reception of the new feature has been far from universally positive.

Read the full mail below:

From: Jack Dorsey
To: All Employees
Date: October 13, 2015
Subject: A more focused Twitter

Team,

We are moving forward with a restructuring of our workforce so we can put our company on a stronger path to grow. Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I’m going to give it to you straight.

The team has been working around the clock to produce streamlined roadmap for Twitter, Vine, and Periscope and they are shaping up to be strong. The roadmap is focused on the experiences which will have the greatest impact. We launched the first of these experiences last week with Moments, a great beginning, and a bold peek into the future of how people will see what’s going on in the world.

The roadmap is also a plan to change how we work, and what we need to do that work. Product and Engineering are going to make the most significant structural changes to reflect our plan ahead. We feel strongly that Engineering will move much faster with a smaller and nimbler team, while remaining the biggest percentage of our workforce. And the rest of the organization will be streamlined in parallel.

So we have made an extremely tough decision: we plan to part ways with up to 336 people from across the company. We are doing this with the utmost respect for each and every person. Twitter will go to great lengths to take care of each individual by providing generous exit packages and help finding a new job.

Let’s take this time to express our gratitude to all of those who are leaving us. We will honor them by doing our best to serve all the people that use Twitter. We do so with a more purpose-built team, which we’ll continue to build strength into over time, as we are now enabled to reinvest in our most impactful priorities.

Thank you all for your trust and understanding here. This isn’t easy. But it is right. The world needs a strong Twitter, and this is another step to get there. As always, please reach out to me directly with any ideas or questions.

Jack