Bringing 'Gaeinhyuji' to Work... Twitter Headquarters Overwhelmed by Foul Odor

Elon Musk Initiates High-Intensity Cost Cuts
Terminates Cleaning Service Contracts and Reduces Office Space

Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter. Photo by Reuters

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Foreign media reported that a foul odor is spreading in the Twitter headquarters building in the United States. This is due to the termination of the contract with the cleaning service company that maintained the building, following CEO Elon Musk's order to cut costs.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 30th, the Twitter headquarters building in San Francisco has not been cleaned for nearly a month. As a result, the smell of discarded food waste is pervasive throughout the building, and the restrooms have run out of toilet paper, forcing employees to carry their own personal toilet paper.

This is related to Twitter's cost-cutting measures. After acquiring Twitter last October, CEO Musk took steps to drastically reduce office rent and maintenance expenses to lower costs.

Recently, when the building management staff went on strike demanding a wage increase, the company terminated the contract citing cost reduction reasons. Additionally, to reduce rent, four floors previously in use were closed, and employees were relocated to two floors. Twitter employees explained that the office is filled with a foul odor due to the increased number of people working in the now smaller office space and the suspension of cleaning services.

The situation is similar in other regional offices. The New York office discontinued cleaning services, and the Seattle office, which is scheduled for closure, stopped paying rent to the building owner. One of Twitter's three major data centers, the Sacramento facility in California, was also closed for cost-cutting reasons.

Furthermore, Twitter auctioned off kitchen appliances and office equipment to reduce costs. Items auctioned included coffee machines and projectors installed in the office building as welfare amenities, as well as kitchen appliances like stand-type beer refrigerators.

There was also controversy over the refusal to pay severance to laid-off employees. According to the NYT, Twitter management recently considered refusing severance pay to thousands of recently laid-off retirees. Initially, CEO Musk led this effort, but due to legal issues, it was decided to pay at least two months' salary and one month's severance.

The NYT reported that Musk set a goal to save about $500 million (approximately 630 billion KRW) in expenses other than labor costs.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.