Multi-billionaire Elon Musk has in a meeting with Twitter employees hinted at potential job cuts if his $44bn (£35.8bn) takeover bid for the social media company is successful.
He also addressed topics like remote
working, freedom of speech, and potential extra-terrestrial life.
Mr. Musk was talking to staff for the
first time since launching his bid for the firm in April.
He has said he may quit the deal if he
is not given data about fake accounts.
On a wide-ranging video call with
Twitter employees on Thursday, Mr. Musk said layoffs at Twitter would depend on
the company's financial situation.
"The company does need to get
healthy. Right now the costs exceed the revenue," he said.
However, he added: "Anyone
who's... a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about".
He also stated his preference for
working from the office unless "somebody is exceptional".
However, he did not provide an update
on takeover discussions and Twitter employees took to an internal
communications channel to express their disappointment about his views on the
business and employee compensation.
Mr. Musk, who is the boss of electric
vehicle maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, also discussed the possibility
of life beyond earth although he said he has not seen "actual evidence for
aliens".
"Can we travel to other star
systems and see if there are alien civilisations?" he asked, adding that
the platform could help "civilisation and consciousness".
Separately, a group of employees at
SpaceX - where Mr. Musk is chief executive - called Mr. Musk a "frequent
source of distraction and embarrassment" in an internal letter to the
company's executives on Thursday.
Meanwhile, he was also sued for $258bn
(£209bn) later in the day by an investor in the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, who
accused him of running a pyramid scheme to drive up its price.
The complaint filed in New York
alleges that Mr. Musk "used his pedestal as world's richest man to operate
and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure, and
amusement".
Earlier this month, Mr Musk threatened
to walk away from the takeover bid and accused Twitter of "thwarting"
his requests to learn more about its user base.
In a letter filed with regulators, he
said he was entitled to do his own measurement of spam accounts.
The letter formalised a dispute that
had simmered for weeks after he declared the deal was "on
hold" pending further information.
Shares in the company stood at $37.36
each at the end of New York trading on Thursday, well below Mr. Musk's offer
price of $54.20.
Source: BBC