Kamal Ghorui
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) has undergone a fresh round of layoffs as it prepares for the potential $1 trillion-plus IPO of SpaceX, according to a report by Wall Street Journal. The company has let go of its chief marketing officer Angela Zepeda, who had joined in September 2024, last month. Over the past several weeks, more than 20 nontechnical staffers across marketing and other departments were also cut, with roles deemed duplicative following the merger of X, xAI, and SpaceX earlier this year.As per the WSJ report, the remaining employees at X have now been told to concentrate on cost-cutting and revenue growth. Musk also appointed Jon Shulkin, a partner at Valor Equity Partners, as chief revenue officer for both X and xAI. Shulkin now has the responsibility of boosting ad revenue and enterprise AI sales, areas where Musk’s companies currently lag behind competitors. X’s U.S. ad revenue is projected to grow just 1.5% to $1.27 billion, while global ad sales are expected to rise 2.2% to $2.19 billion, far below the $4.51 billion Twitter generated in 2021 before Musk took the company private.
Leadership changes and restructuring at Elon Musk’s X
The layoffs follow broader restructuring across Musk’s companies. Several xAI co-founders have departed, and teams such as the ‘vision’ group working on video generation for Grok have been reorganised. Since the exits of Zepeda and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino, management has shifted to Shulkin and Monique, xAI’s head of global advertising, who now oversees sales, partnerships and marketing for X.X has struggled with advertiser departures over content moderation concerns, though some brands—including Amazon—resumed spending after President Trump’s 2024 election. Meanwhile, Musk is pushing ahead with X Money, a payments business within the platform. Despite delays due to regulatory requirements, Musk said on March 10 that early public access would roll out next month.
