Hello — it's Friday, and I'm your host, Jordan Parker Erb.
Elon Musk began to terminate Twitter staffers last night, insiders told us. The move came just hours after an email went out telling workers to expect layoffs to begin Friday.
I get into all that, and more, below. Let's dive in.
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1. Twitter layoffs have started. Last night Elon Musk's Twitter broke its silence with employees and sent a memo to staffers confirming that much-anticipated layoffs were happening the following day (so, today). But staffers told us the terminations started shortly after that email went out.
This is a developing story with a lot of moving parts. Here's what we know so far.
- First, the memo. On Thursday night, the company told staffers that they'd find out by 9 a.m. PT on Friday whether they'd be laid off ... via email. We got a copy of the memo — read it here.
- Employees were also barred from the company's offices. The only employees allowed on the premises are a few working directly on projects deemed "Elon critical." More on that here.
- Workers suddenly started to get locked out of services like Slack and email around 8 p.m. PT on Thursday night, multiple employees told Insider. By closer to 11 p.m. PT, more than 1,000 people at Twitter had already lost their jobs, according to employees and messages seen by Insider. Read what staffers told us.
- Twitter is getting sued, Bloomberg reports. A class-action lawsuit filed late Thursday says the company didn't give employees enough notice of job cuts. Get the details.
We'll be covering this story all day. You can keep up with the latest here.
In other news:
2. Gen Zers are crying about their breakups in viral TikTok videos. Not much happens in the videos — the camera rolls, the user cries — but quite a few have gone viral, with one raking in 13.3 million views. We spoke with creators who said strangers' support has helped them grieve, and therapists who think the videos may actually be a good thing.
3. Amazon has paused corporate hiring. Citing an "unusual macro-economic environment," Amazon told staff it'd put a pause on new corporate hires. A hiring freeze also hit Amazon Web Services, which is curtailing hiring in multiple divisions. Get the full rundown here.
4. Jeff Bezos's ex-housekeeper is suing the tech billionaire. The woman, who began working for Bezos in 2019, claims she was racially discriminated against and was made to work long hours in unsanitary conditions. More details on the lawsuit.
5. In a closed-door meeting, Elon Musk sought to reassure top ad execs of his commitment to brand safety on the platform. Execs from Microsoft, Mastercard, and other major companies were on the call, where Musk told them Twitter will remain safe to advertise on. What we learned about the call.
6. Meet the 39 most important VCs in the Midwest. For this list, we asked venture capitalists from across the country to identify the must-know Midwest investors, and they provided nominees from firms like Lightship Capital and Detroit Venture Partners. See our full list here.
7. People think Apple's Tim Cook is boring (but he's kicking everybody's ass). Cook is leading a company worth more than Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet combined, and that has largely avoided controversy, suggesting its keep-your-head-down approach has paid off. The benefits of a CEO who flies under the radar.
8. Amazon bet big on a live radio service, but it's wildly undershooting a year-end goal. Amazon's live radio service, Amp, drew in big names, including Nicki Minaj and Halsey. But Amp has attracted few listeners — and Amazon slashed its headcount in half last week. What to know.
Odds and ends:
9. Nissan just gave us a glimpse at a stunning electric pickup truck. The truck is a 1987 Nissan Sunny, powered by parts from the brand's Leaf electric car. Check out the vintage electric truck.
10. WTF is Listenbourg? "Listenbourg," a fictional country in Europe, has gone viral online as social-media users create fake government accounts and even a national anthem for the non-country. Everything you'll want to know about the imaginary country.
The latest people moves in tech:
- Sarah Personette, Twitter's chief customer officer, left the company this week. Here are the top Twitter execs who've been fired or left since Elon Musk's takeover.
- American Express hired a new top cloud exec, formerly the CTO at Groupon.
- Per Deadline, Sue Kroll was named Amazon Studios' head of marketing.
- After a year of high turnover, here are all the new leaders at Shopify.
Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.
Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Lisa Ryan (tweet @lisarya) in New York and Shona Ghosh (tweet @shonaghosh) in London.