對于科技公司的員工而言,發放股票獎勵或搬到新辦公室的承諾,就像貓薄荷對貓一樣有吸引力。但當這些承諾來自埃隆·馬斯克時,在他的社交媒體公司工作的員工,已經學會了持懷疑態度。
X(原Twitter)的員工最近收到了一條在正常情況下受到歡迎的好消息:上周,馬斯克告訴員工,如果他們能在備忘錄中證明他們最近的工作值得獲得獎勵,他們將獲得新的股票獎勵。與此同時,8月早些時候,該公司CEO琳達·雅卡里諾宣布計劃關閉公司長期以來使用的舊金山總部,員工將搬到市郊規模更小的辦公室。
許多X員工對這兩件事的反應都是不以為然。在被馬斯克接手后的兩年間,公司做出過許多承諾,但通常無法遵守承諾,或者在執行過程中出現問題。
自從三周前辦公室搬遷的消息傳出后,員工一直沒有得到更多詳細信息。由于缺少官方信息,員工只能依靠傳聞來獲取消息——最新的傳聞是,他們必須在8月底前搬出辦公室,也就是只有不到一周時間。但根本沒有人開始收拾辦公室里剩下的物品。在被馬斯克收購之后,該公司在兩年內已經經歷了數千人的裁員和辭職。
一位X的現任員工對《財富》雜志表示:“我們沒有收到與這次搬家有關的任何消息。”在8月6日召開的全體員工大會上,員工以為能了解到有關辦公室關閉的更多信息。但雅卡里諾在講話中主要談論了對一家廣告咨詢機構的新訴訟,以及將日益萎縮的廣告業務集中在中小企業(SME)身上的內部計劃。
本文基于兩位現任員工和一位仍與現任員工保持聯系的前員工的敘述。由于擔心因公開發言而被解雇,他們均要求匿名。
X并未回復請求置評的電子郵件。
雅卡里諾在唯一一封關于辦公室關閉的郵件中,對X的舊金山員工表示,他們將有兩個去向:一是搬到加州帕洛阿爾托,距離舊金山一小時車程;另一個辦公地點則位于稍遠一些的圣何塞。但沒有人告訴員工,他們將被如何安排。
X的CEO還提到了可能的“交通選擇”,顯然她所說的是其他大型科技公司為員工提供的那種通勤班車。消息人士稱,由于沒有其他細節,員工只能猜測他們在搬家后該如何上班。
對于承諾的股票獎勵,這位消息人士用表示哭笑不得的“lol”,回應了《財富》雜志的問題。近一年來,X的員工一直被要求每周或每月向上司發送電子郵件,說明自己的工作情況和對X產生的積極影響。兩位消息人士稱,有些管理者不愿意執行這條規則,但有些卻嚴格執行。其中一位消息人士補充說:“沒有人知道這些郵件的去向。”
一些員工對于公司能否兌現股票獎勵持懷疑態度。五個月前,在年度績效評估周期結束后,X的員工被告知他們將獲得額外股票獎勵。但兩位現任員工表示,這些獎勵從未兌現過。
馬斯克已經養成了不向與X有關的個人和實體支付款項的習慣。有數千名普通員工被裁員或解雇,卻沒有領到公司承諾的離職補償金,后來他們發起了集體仲裁。除此之外,有多位前Twitter高管在馬斯克收購公司后提起訴訟,要求支付高額離職補償金,但馬斯克已經拒絕支付。一位前董事會成員也起訴了馬斯克,還有多位供應商和土地所有者指控馬斯克未支付欠款。
由于對最近的股票獎勵的質疑,一些員工對于再寫一份備忘錄敘述自己對公司的貢獻毫無興趣。馬斯克的郵件沒有具體說明這是新的獎勵計劃,還是只是重復了人們期待已久的額外獎勵。
無論如何,許多員工并不認為股票獎勵會是一筆意外之財。一位員工表示,考慮到X面臨的業務困境(主要原因是廣告收入大幅減少),限制股獎勵“基本上毫無價值”。
在馬斯克入主X之后,X僅向有限數量的員工發行過一次限制股。那次發行的時間比承諾時間晚了一年左右,而且在發行時,對X的估值比馬斯克收購它時已經縮水了約60%。這些股票受到許多限制。員工必須持有滿一年,然后只能出售給獲得批準的外部投資者。一位消息人士稱,由于X的業務困境和投資者對購買X股票的興趣有限,這些股票沒有太大價值。
雖然X員工去年收到的一份內部指南,說明了在內部出售限制股單位或者公司再次上市時這些股票的價值,但這兩種情況似乎都不太可能發生。在馬斯克收購Twitter初期,他曾偶爾談到過公司重新上市的話題。但公司員工表示,他已經幾個月沒有談過這個話題。盡管距離初始兌現期只有幾周時間,但公司內部沒有任何計劃出售限制股單位的消息傳出。
一位員工表示:“目前沒有任何流動性事件的跡象。”(財富中文網)
譯者:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
對于科技公司的員工而言,發放股票獎勵或搬到新辦公室的承諾,就像貓薄荷對貓一樣有吸引力。但當這些承諾來自埃隆·馬斯克時,在他的社交媒體公司工作的員工,已經學會了持懷疑態度。
X(原Twitter)的員工最近收到了一條在正常情況下受到歡迎的好消息:上周,馬斯克告訴員工,如果他們能在備忘錄中證明他們最近的工作值得獲得獎勵,他們將獲得新的股票獎勵。與此同時,8月早些時候,該公司CEO琳達·雅卡里諾宣布計劃關閉公司長期以來使用的舊金山總部,員工將搬到市郊規模更小的辦公室。
許多X員工對這兩件事的反應都是不以為然。在被馬斯克接手后的兩年間,公司做出過許多承諾,但通常無法遵守承諾,或者在執行過程中出現問題。
自從三周前辦公室搬遷的消息傳出后,員工一直沒有得到更多詳細信息。由于缺少官方信息,員工只能依靠傳聞來獲取消息——最新的傳聞是,他們必須在8月底前搬出辦公室,也就是只有不到一周時間。但根本沒有人開始收拾辦公室里剩下的物品。在被馬斯克收購之后,該公司在兩年內已經經歷了數千人的裁員和辭職。
一位X的現任員工對《財富》雜志表示:”我們沒有收到與這次搬家有關的任何消息。“在8月6日召開的全體員工大會上,員工以為能了解到有關辦公室關閉的更多信息。但雅卡里諾在講話中主要談論了對一家廣告咨詢機構的新訴訟,以及將日益萎縮的廣告業務集中在中小企業(SME)身上的內部計劃。
本文基于兩位現任員工和一位仍與現任員工保持聯系的前員工的敘述。由于擔心因公開發言而被解雇,他們均要求匿名。
X并未回復請求置評的電子郵件。
雅卡里諾在唯一一封關于辦公室關閉的郵件中,對X的舊金山員工表示,他們將有兩個去向:一是搬到加州帕洛阿爾托,距離舊金山一小時車程;另一個辦公地點則位于稍遠一些的圣何塞。但沒有人告訴員工,他們將被如何安排。
X的CEO還提到了可能的“交通選擇”,顯然她所說的是其他大型科技公司為員工提供的那種通勤班車。消息人士稱,由于沒有其他細節,員工只能猜測他們在搬家后該如何上班。
對于承諾的股票獎勵,這位消息人士用表示哭笑不得的“lol”,回應了《財富》雜志的問題。近一年來,X的員工一直被要求每周或每月向上司發送電子郵件,說明自己的工作情況和對X產生的積極影響。兩位消息人士稱,有些管理者不愿意執行這條規則,但有些卻嚴格執行。其中一位消息人士補充說:“沒有人知道這些郵件的去向。”
一些員工對于公司能否兌現股票獎勵持懷疑態度。五個月前,在年度績效評估周期結束后,X的員工被告知他們將獲得額外股票獎勵。但兩位現任員工表示,這些獎勵從未兌現過。
馬斯克已經養成了不向與X有關的個人和實體支付款項的習慣。有數千名普通員工被裁員或解雇,卻沒有領到公司承諾的離職補償金,后來他們發起了集體仲裁。除此之外,有多位前Twitter高管在馬斯克收購公司后提起訴訟,要求支付高額離職補償金,但馬斯克已經拒絕支付。一位前董事會成員也起訴了馬斯克,還有多位供應商和土地所有者指控馬斯克未支付欠款。
由于對最近的股票獎勵的質疑,一些員工對于再寫一份備忘錄敘述自己對公司的貢獻毫無興趣。馬斯克的郵件沒有具體說明這是新的獎勵計劃,還是只是重復了人們期待已久的額外獎勵。
無論如何,許多員工并不認為股票獎勵會是一筆意外之財。一位員工表示,考慮到X面臨的業務困境(主要原因是廣告收入大幅減少),限制股獎勵“基本上毫無價值”。
在馬斯克入主X之后,X僅向有限數量的員工發行過一次限制股。那次發行的時間比承諾時間晚了一年左右,而且在發行時,對X的估值比馬斯克收購它時已經縮水了約60%。這些股票受到許多限制。員工必須持有滿一年,然后只能出售給獲得批準的外部投資者。一位消息人士稱,由于X的業務困境和投資者對購買X股票的興趣有限,這些股票沒有太大價值。
雖然X員工去年收到的一份內部指南,說明了在內部出售限制股單位或者公司再次上市時這些股票的價值,但這兩種情況似乎都不太可能發生。在馬斯克收購Twitter初期,他曾偶爾談到過公司重新上市的話題。但公司員工表示,他已經幾個月沒有談過這個話題。盡管距離初始兌現期只有幾周時間,但公司內部沒有任何計劃出售限制股單位的消息傳出。
一位員工表示:“目前沒有任何流動性事件的跡象。”(財富中文網)
譯者:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
Usually a promise of stock grants or a new office is catnip to tech employees. But when the promise comes from Elon Musk, workers at his social media service have learned to be skeptical.
Staff at X, formerly known as Twitter, recently received what would normally be welcome news: Last week, Musk told them they’d get a new stock grant if they could prove in a memo that their recent work made them worthy of a reward. Meanwhile, earlier in August, CEO Linda Yaccarino announced the planned closure of the company’s longtime San Francisco headquarters, and that employees would have move to a smaller office well outside the city.
In both cases, many X employees reacted with a shrug. Under two years of Musk’s ownership, the company has made a number of promises, but often failed to keep them or bumbled their execution.
Since news of the office move three weeks ago, staff have received no more details about it. In the absence of official information, workers have been left to trade in rumors—the latest of which is that they will be forced out of the office by the end of August, less than a week away. Yet no one has started packing the little that remains in the office, which has undergone a bloodbath of thousands of layoffs and resignations in the two years since Musk bought the company.
“We haven’t been told anything about the move,” one current staffer told Fortune. During an all-hands meeting on Aug. 6, staffers were expecting to receive more detail on the office closure. Instead, Yaccarino focused her remarks on a new lawsuit against an advertising advisory group and an internal plan to focus X’s shrinking ad revenue on “SMBs,” or small and medium size businesses.
This article is based on the accounts of two current staffers and one former staffer who is still in touch with current employees. They all demanded anonymity for fear that they would be fired for speaking out publicly.
X did not respond to emails seeking comment.
In her only email about the office closure, Yaccarino told X’s San Francisco staff they would be relocated to one of two offices, either an hour away in Palo Alto, Calif., or slightly further afield in San Jose. No one has been told which office they’re assigned to.
The CEO also mentioned possible “transportation options,” apparently a nod to commuter shuttles like those that several larger tech companies offer their employees. Given no additional details, staff has been left to wonder how they’ll get to work after the move, the source said.
When it comes to the promised stock award, that same staffer responded to Fortune‘s questions with a wry “lol.” For about a year now, X employees have been required to send weekly and monthly emails to their managers describing their work and positive impact on X. Some managers don’t bother enforcing the rule, both of the staffers said, but others do. “No one understood where those emails went,” one of the sources added.
Some staffers aren’t holding their breath that the stock grants will ever materialize. Five months ago, X employees were told after the annual performance review period concluded that they would receive additional stock grants. But those grants haven’t shown up, both of the current employees said.
Musk has made a habit of failing to pay people and entities associated with X. Beyond the thousands of rank-and-file employees who were laid off or fired without promised severance and subsequently pursued mass arbitration, several former Twitter executives laid off immediately after Musk’s acquisition of the company are suing Musk for their own large severance packages, which he has refused to pay. A former board member is suing, too, while several vendors and landlords have lodged their own lawsuits over Musk’s failure to pay what they claim to be owed.
Because of the doubts surrounding the latest stock offer, some employees aren’t enthusiastic about having to write another memo about their contribution to the company. Musk’s email did not specify whether the offer is actually a new one or just a rehash of the long-expected refresher grants.
Either way, many employees don’t consider stock grants to be a financial windfall. Given X’s business struggles, driven mainly by a huge drop-off in advertising revenue, the restricted stock units are “essentially worthless,” one of the staffers said.
Under Musk, X has only once issued restricted stock and only to a limited number of staffers. That grant came about a year after they were promised, and valued X at almost 60% less than what Musk paid for it. That stock came with restrictions. Employees must hold onto it for a year and then can only sell it to an approved group of outside investors. Due to X’s business struggles and limited investor appetite for them, the shares aren’t worth much, one source said.
Although X staffers last year received an internal guide laying out what would happen to their RSUs should an internal sale of their stock be set or the company go public again, neither seems likely. In the early days of the Twitter takeover, Musk spoke occasionally of taking the company public again. He has not done so for many months, staffers said. And there is no scheduled sale of RSUs coming up, despite an initial vesting cliff being just weeks away.
“There is no liquidity event in sight,” one staffer said.