Twitter has announced that it will close its offices over the weekend, until Monday, November 21.
The news arrives as many of its staff quit when new owner Elon Musk asked them to work for “long hours at high intensity” or leave.
“Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere,” says Twitter in a message to the BBC.
Many workers have resigned because Musk’s new terms were unagreeable.
“I think when the dust clears today, there’s probably going to be less than 2,000 people left,” a former Twitter employee told the BBC.
“The manager of that team, his manager was terminated. And then that manager’s manager was terminated. The person above that was one of the execs terminated on the first day. So there’s nobody left in that chain of command.”
Earlier this week, Musk told his Twitter staff to commit to working long hours and would “need to be extremely hardcore” or drop out from the company.
The firm’s new owner said workers must agree to the pledge if they wanted to stay, the Washington Post reported.
Those who did not sign up by November 17 would receive three months’ severance pay, Musk said.
Earlier this month, the company said it would cut 50% of its workforce.
Employees have been sending tweets with the #LoveWhereYouWorked hashtag and a saluting emoji to show they were leaving the firm.
Yet, Mr Musk tweeted on Friday: “And… we just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage lol.”
Before Musk acquired Twitter, the company had a full force of around 7,500 staff. The firm also employed thousands of contract workers – most have been laid off.
Musk, the world’s richest person, became Twitter’s chief executive after buying the firm last month in a $44bn deal.
Musk seemed unconcerned about reports that Twitter is shutting down. He tweeted, “The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried”.
