“It was traumatic,” Iris Guo, an incoming associate product manager living in Toronto, told Reuters. She received the bad news in a 10:45 p.m. video call that her position had been eliminated. Since then, she has raced to find new employment in order to secure her US work visa.
The trend reflects a new austerity sweeping across some parts of the tech industry such as crypto and venture capital-backed companies. In the case of those who were poised to join Twitter, the whims of billionaire Elon Musk have also caused stress. Musk has agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion, but his recent tweets have raised questions about when and if the acquisition will be completed.
Lucas Durrant, an electrical engineering graduate from Canada, was set to start his new job as a software engineer at Bolt last week. While on vacation a few weeks ago, he received an e-mail stating that his offer was rescinded. Bolt announced it would begin layoffs in late May, citing economic conditions.
In a statement, Twitter said it acknowledged that the rescinded offers could put candidates in a difficult position, and said it is offering compensation to those affected. Coinbase pointed to a June 2 blog post that said the decision to rescind a number of offers was not made lightly, but was “necessary to ensure we are only growing in the highest-priority areas.”