This story originally appeared on Business Insider
Elon Musk told reporters he’s not worried about Twitter employees leaving the company over his proposed takeover.
Theo Wargo | Getty Images
Musk is set to acquire Twitter for $44 billion, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. News of the acquisition caused some disquiet among Twitter employees, with CEO Parag Agrawal fielding questions from exasperated staff at an impromptu all-hands meeting last week.
Musk was asked about a potential exodus of employees while on the red carpet at the Met Gala on Monday, Reuters reported.
Related: Elon Musk Steals the Show at 2022 Met Gala With Surprise Date, Spills Details on Twitter Goals
“It’s a free country,” Musk responded, per Reuters.
“Certainly if anyone doesn’t feel comfortable with that, they will on their own accord, go somewhere else. That’s fine,” he added, Reuters reported.
Twitter said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday that one of the risks associated with Musk’s planned acquisition was a potential loss of staff.
“We may experience a departure of employees, prior to the closing of the merger,” Twitter wrote in the filing.
A former Twitter executive told Insider’s Kali Hays since news of Musk’s acquisition broke they were being contacted daily by Twitter employees asking about job opportunities.
“Any sense that an exodus is building is correct,” the former executive said.
Related: Twitter Gains Millions of Users in First Earnings Report Since Accepting Musk’s Bid
Three current employees told Hays there is relatively open talk inside the company about looking for new work because of Musk.
“It’s all about Elon,” one employee said. “There will be some sort of exodus event from those who do not approve of him.”
The Twitter employees told Hays there is unease about Musk’s publicly stated desire to loosen the platform’s rules on content moderation — a move that experts told Insider could lead to an uptick in hate speech and misinformation.
They also said Musk’s reputation as a workaholic was a factor.
A smaller Twitter workforce may not be that worrying to Musk. Sources told The Washington Post and Bloomberg that Musk proposed job cuts as a way to boost Twitter’s bottom line in conversations with potential lender banks when he was shoring up financing for his bid.
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