Multi-billionaire Elon Musk has hinted at possible job cuts in a meeting with Twitter employees if his $44bn (£35.8bn) takeover bid for the social media company is successful.
He also addressed remote work, freedom of speech and possibly extraterrestrial life. Mr Musk spoke to employees for the first time since launching his bid for the firm in April.
He has said that he may leave the deal if he is not given the data about the fake accounts.
In an extensive video call with Twitter employees on Thursday, Mr Musk said layoffs on Twitter would depend on the company’s financials.
“The company does need to get healthy. Right now, the costs exceed the revenue,” he said.
However, he added: “Whoever … is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about”. He also stated his preference for working from the office unless “there is nothing extraordinary”.
However, he did not provide an update regarding acquisition discussions. Twitter employees took to an internal communication channel to express their disappointment about their views on the business and employee compensation.
Mr Musk, who owns electric vehicle maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, also discussed the possibility of life beyond Earth. However, he said he had not seen “real evidence for aliens”.
“Can we travel to other star systems and see if there are alien civilizations?” He asked, adding that the platform could help “civilization and consciousness”.
Separately, a group of employees at SpaceX – where Mr Musk is chief executive – called Mr Musk a “frequent source of distraction and embarrassment” in an internal letter to company executives on Thursday.
Meanwhile, he was also sued for $258bn (£209bn) later in the day by an investor in the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, who accused him of running a pyramid scheme to inflate its price.
The complaint, filed in New York, alleges that Mr Musk “used his position as the world’s richest person to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin pyramid scheme for profit, risk and entertainment”.
Earlier this month, Mr Musk threatened to walk away from the takeover bid and accused Twitter of “failing” his requests to learn more about his user base. In a letter filed with regulators, he said he was entitled to his measurement of spam accounts.
The letter formalized a dispute that had simmered for weeks after announcing the deal, pending further information. The company’s shares were at $37.36 at the end of New York trading Thursday, well below Musk’s offer price of $54.20.
