Ashneer Grover, the co-founder of Bharat Pe, has spoken out on global layoffs. The businessman used the social media platform LinkedIn to give company executives some advice and caution them against being persuaded by the extensive layoffs that Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has implemented. The owner of Twitter cut half of the 7,500 employees after assuming control of the social media network, including 90% of the employees in India.
“Don’t be swayed by what Elon Musk is selling as couture. It does not fit your body type. None of you have bought over a business with your own money, nor do you own 100%. You carry the baggage of having built your team - he doesn’t - at least not on Twitter. He is doing perfectly what is needed in an acquisition - not applicable to you at all”, Grover said.
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“Founders. Never forget – business has Cycles! You have to be ahead of the cycle – not consumed by it,” Mr Grover wrote. “We are going through a down cycle. Cutting costs is needed to extend runway. Firing people is fashionable – but actually optional,” he added.
“It's a better solution as rehiring will be really uphill and costly. Reinstating salary is the click of a button away,” he said.
Grover advised business executives not to heed any approvals or recommendations from shareholders or "so-called" boards. Investors, he claimed, never deal with people since they only bring capital, not labour or business.
Ashneer Grover also shared a Twitter post where he wrote, “First Elon Musk, took over the company, fired incompetent mgmt and then did layoffs in a bloated org. Most copycat Founders are skipping the first hard part (of firing themselves or getting bought over) and conveniently copying layoffs.” The co-founder added, “What works in M&A (mergers and acquisitions) just does not otherwise!”
Along with Twitter, Facebook's parent company Meta also eliminated 11,000 workers globally, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg offering apologies to those who lost their employment. Amazon, an e-commerce platform, also disclosed that it will conduct layoffs that would last until 2023.
