Twitter closes 2 India offices; only 3 employees left now
What's the story
Elon Musk is on a mission to reduce Twitter's costs. The CEO has been busy laying off employees, selling office items, and shutting down offices. As part of the exercise, Twitter shut down two of its three offices in India on Friday morning, Bloomberg reported. Employees in the affected offices were asked to work from home.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Musk once said "Twitter is on a fast lane to bankruptcy," referring to its financial health. Since then, he has been trying to cut down the company's costs by whatever means necessary. He earlier wanted Twitter employees to go back to offices. However, once he realized how much he can save on rent by shutting down offices, there has not been any looking back.
Shut down
Office shutdowns are an extension of mass layoffs
Twitter reportedly shut down its offices in Delhi and Mumbai. However, its office in the country's IT hub, Bengaluru, will remain unaffected. The decision to shut offices is an extension of the company's decision to fire over 90% of its India staff in November. The company's team in India had around 230-250 employees. Now, it is reportedly down to three.
India team
Twitter's India team is down to three people
The company's India team now includes the country lead and two others covering the north and east and south and west regions. All three are now working from home. The Bengaluru office, on the other hand, is a shared space. It houses engineers that mostly report directly to the US office. They are not part of the India team.
Other offices
Twitter reportedly stopped paying rent for all global offices
Musk's decision to shut down Twitter's offices is not limited to India. The company recently shuttered its Singapore office and asked staff to work remotely. In December, The New York Times reported that the company had stopped paying rent for all of its global offices. Last month, the landlord of one of Twitter's offices in San Francisco filed a lawsuit over unpaid rent.
India
Twitter is seemingly not looking at India as important market
India has been one of the biggest markets for most of the tech giants, including Meta, Google, and Apple. Google, despite being fined by the CCI, sees India as an important market. Therefore, Twitter's decision to close down two of its India offices comes as a surprise to many. This move indicates that Musk does not attach much importance to the market.