Bloomberg reported on Friday that despite Twitter owner Elon Musk’s well-documented love of working from the office, the company had shut down two of its three offices in India and ordered staff there to work from home.
According to Bloomberg, Twitter has shut down operations in Delhi and Mumbai, India’s capital and financial hub, respectively. They confirmed that the Bengaluru office, which they said houses mostly engineering employees, is still operational in India’s tech hub.
Musk had already cut costs by laying off 90% of Twitter’s Indian workforce in November, leaving only about 12 people in their region. About 140 people, or about 70%, were part of the product and engineering teams who were let go.
As part of his plan to make Twitter profitable by the end of 2023, billionaire CEO Musk has laid off workers and closed offices around the world. Tech giants from the United States, such as Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, view India as a promising market for expansion and are placing long-term bets on the country’s rapidly expanding online market. Musk’s recent behaviour indicates he is currently giving the market less of his attention.
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In recent years, Twitter has emerged as one of India’s most prominent public fora, attracting both passionate political debate and 86.5 million of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s followers. Despite this, Musk’s company doesn’t make a lot of money in that region due to challenges including content restrictions and fierce local competition.
There has been a mass exodus of employees (many of whom were fired) from Twitter since Musk acquired the company, leading some to question its viability and its ability to police offensive posts. Musk has stated this week that he may require until the end of the year to stabilise the company and ensure its financial health.
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