Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal sent an email to company employees Friday stating that annual bonuses could be cut in half, attributing the reduction to the company’s recent decline in earnings, according to a report by The New York Times.
Last month, Twitter reported its first quarterly decline in revenue since 2020, which amounted to a net loss for the company, The New York Times reported.
Twitter warned its employees on Friday that they might receive only half of their typical annual bonuses as the social media company grapples with economic uncertainty. The company blamed its financial performance for the potential bonus cut. https://t.co/W1naywJ6KO
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 20, 2022
Segal’s email reportedly conveyed that the bonus pool sits at about half of what it would be if the company had achieved its net profitability goals. Segal noted that the figure could change throughout the year based on future earnings, according to the NYT.
A spokesperson for the tech company recently confirmed the authenticity of the email received by the Times.
Twitter executives fear that earnings may be dropping because online advertisers who supply the majority of Twitter’s revenue are worried that the war in Ukraine is preventing people from spending. The internal announcement also comes as the legal battle between Twitter and Elon Musk heats up over the billionaire’s canceled bid to acquire the social media giant. Twitter sued Musk for backing out of the deal and then the billionaire bit back by filing a countersuit accusing the company of misleading Musk and his legal team about the extent of account authenticity issues that exist on the app, according to The Washington Post. Musk’s recent acquisition bid has created speculation and uncertainty about the future of the company which may be further impacting earnings. (RELATED: Elon Musk Delivers Starlink Satellite Internet To Keep Ukraine Online)
Bots, which are fake accounts, were a central reason why Musk backed out of the acquisition. The Tesla CEO alleged that Twitter misrepresented the number of bots that populate the platform and thus provided an inaccurate accounting of the total userbase, The Washington Post reported. (RELATED: The Biden Admin Is Seething Over One Particular Twitter Account)
Judge rules Twitter must turn over documents to Elon Musk.https://t.co/kWZng5xS5G
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 17, 2022
Last week, a judge ruled that Twitter must provide Musk executive documents regarding fake accounts on the platform.