Elon Musk hires his cousins to work at Twitter

Billionaire has already fired thousands of employees at the San Francisco-based comapn he bought for $44bn

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Wednesday 07 December 2022 13:12 EST
Comments
Twitter employees film themselves as they count down to being fired

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Elon Musk may have fired thousands of Twitter employees after buying the struggling social media platform for $44bn, but that has not stopped him from hiring his cousins to try and help turn around the company.

The billionaire’s cousins, James and Andrew Musk, who are sons of his uncle on his father’s side of the family, have joined the San Francisco-based company, according to Business Insider.

Sources told the outlet that Andrew Musk works on software engineering projects, while James Musk is “a fixer type” who works with the Tesla CEO on projects.

Since Mr Musk took over Twitter in October, despite months of trying to get out of the deal, around 70 per cent of the company’s 7,500 employees have been fired or resigned.

This includes all of the top executives, who were fired on Mr Musk’s first day in charge of Twitter.

Mr Musk has brought in employees for his other companies, including engineers from Tesla and The Boring Company.

Some employees are now sleeping at the company’s headquarters in office space that has been turned into bedrooms after Mr Musk instituted a new “hardcore” work culture.

San Francisco city building inspectors are now investigating that situation, according to KQED.

“We need to make sure the building is being used as intended,” a spokesperson for the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection told the radio station.

And earlier this week janitors who clean Twitter’s headquarters have also gone on strike, with the SEIU Local 87 union saying that Mr Musk has not renovated their contract with Flagship the company that employs them.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in