Elon Musk cast Twitter’s future into uncertainty when he made a successful $44 billion bid to acquire the company last month. He will take over as temporary CEO once the deal is complete, CNBC reported Thursday morning.
While countless Musk fans, and a slight majority of Americans—59%—approve of the takeover according to recent data from The Harris Poll, some current Twitter staff worry that it will dramatically change the company’s culture, and overall direction.
It’s still unclear how a Musk-run Twitter might impact the company’s ability to retain current staff and recruit new employees. The company presented the takeover as a potential threat to its staffing abilities in an SEC filing Monday.
But at least casual interest in open positions at the company has skyrocketed since the Tesla billionaire showed serious interest in taking over the company.
On Thursday, Daniel Zhao, a senior economist and data scientist at the job insights platform Glassdoor, tweeted that interest in job openings at the social media giant was up 263% between April 24 and April 30.
In a statement to Fortune, Zhao clarified that interest is defined by the average daily clicks on Twitter job postings on the platform, compared to the average daily job clicks in a March 2022 baseline prior to the news breaking of Musk’s plans for the company.
Though clicks do not necessarily correlate to actual job applications submitted, and likely reflect current media attention, the increase shows that people appear to be interested not just in the media story, but in work available at the company.
“Say what you will about Elon, he does have a large fanbase of ppl excited to work for him,” Zhao tweeted. “He’s much more likely to capitalize on that attraction as CEO than owner.”
On Friday, Musk shared some of his own thoughts about hiring at Twitter, sharing Fortune’s reporting.
“If Twitter acquisition completes, company will be super focused on hardcore software engineering, design, infosec & server hardware,” he tweeted on Friday morning. “I strongly believe that all managers in a technical area must be technically excellent. Managers in software must write great software or it’s like being a cavalry captain who can’t ride a horse!”
“Also, work ethic expectations would be extreme, but much less than I demand of myself,” Musk added to the tweet thread on Saturday morning.
In its SEC report this week, Twitter said that Musk’s takeover might cost the company advertisers, staff, and users regardless of the outcome of the takeover — if it reaches a final conclusion or if it somehow fails along the way.
“The announcement and pendency of our agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Elon Musk may have an adverse effect on our business results, and a failure to complete the merger could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operation, financial condition, cash flows, and stock price,” the company wrote.
The report specifically highlighted the possibility that the company’s current period of uncertainty might lead to issues related to staffing. A consequence of the merger, the company wrote, could be its “inability to attract and retain key personnel and recruit prospective employees, and the possibility that our current employees could be distracted, and their productivity decline as a result.”
Musk made his unsolicited bid to acquire the social media platform last month after a plan to join the company’s board disintegrated. He has since talked about what he views as limits on free speech on the platform, having previously criticized Twitter’s decision to permanently ban former president Donald Trump following the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Musk has also disparaged current Twitter employees like Vijaya Gadde, the company’s widely-respected top lawyer who has led the company through its many political quagmires, including the decision to ban Trump.
Twitter’s board voted unanimously to recommend the deal move forward.
May 6, 2021: This story has been updated to include Elon Musk’s tweets about his hiring plan
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