Linda Yaccarino Reportedly Leaves Staff In Dark Over Delayed Promotions: Who Is The 'Grim Reaper' That Scares Employees At Elon Musk's X

Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, formerly Twitter, reportedly held an all-hands meeting on Wednesday, leaving employees with more questions than answers.

What Happened: During the internal meeting, Yaccarino did not address the delayed promotions and the sales team’s failure to meet revenue targets for the quarter, reported The Verge, citing sources inside the company. This has led to concerns about potential layoffs.

One of Elon Musk’s key aides, Steve Davis, CEO of The Boring Company, has been reviewing X’s finances in San Francisco. This has led to speculation among employees about the possibility of more layoffs. One employee described him as “the grim reaper who only shows up for bad things,” the report noted.

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According to an insider, there have been a few layoffs in recent days. Among the noticeable departures was Joe Benarroch, known as Yaccarino's right-hand man.

Musk’s absence was also conspicuous, considering he was in San Francisco at the same time as Yaccarino. The tech billionaire acquired the social media platform in October 2022 for $44 billion.

Despite the lack of clarity, Yaccarino announced that the company will be holding all-hands meetings quarterly, with both her and Musk addressing the team soon.

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Why It Matters: Yaccarino described Musk’s controversial decision to terminate over 80% of the social media platform’s staff as a “very necessary cost discipline exercise.” This was followed by a court ruling in December that stated X had breached contracts by withholding millions in promised employee bonuses.

Meanwhile, Musk’s other company, Tesla Inc., has also been facing challenges. In April earlier this year, two of Musk’s top executives, including a senior vice president, resigned from the EV giant following reports of layoffs.

Their decision came after Musk reportedly issued a memo announcing a global reduction in headcount of more than 10% due to the diminishing outlook for electric vehicle sales. With Tesla’s workforce totaling just over 140,000, this indicated that the EV manufacturer could lay off more than 14,000 employees.

Photo Courtesy: World Economic Forum / Sikarin Fon Thanachaiary

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