Elon Musk looks at his cell phone in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, January 19, 2020. REUTERS / Joe Skipper / Stock Photo
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
SYDNEY, June 3 (Reuters) – Elon Musk on Friday clashed with Twitter’s third richest man in Australia over the value of ending the pandemic-era long-distance work habit.
In an internal email this week, the CEO of Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O) said that “everyone at Tesla must spend at least 40 hours a week in the office” and “if you don’t show up, We will assume that you have resigned. ” This provoked criticism from workers’ advocates about possible exposure to coronavirus. Read more
The co-founder of Australian project management software maker Atlassian Plc (TEAM.O), Scott Farquhar, ridiculed the board in a series of tweets as “like something from the 1950s”. The company’s “work from anywhere” policy in the United States was “key to our continued growth,” he said.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
“We are fixing our eyes on growing Atlassian to 25,000 employees for fiscal year 26,” Farquhar concluded. “Any interested Tesla employees?”
Musk responded: “The set of tweets above illustrates why recessions have a vital function of economic cleansing.”
The exchange is not unusual for Musk, who often uses Twitter to make apologetic statements on sensitive topics.
In Silicon Valley, many technology companies moved to work at home and in the office during the pandemic, while others have set dates to return to the office only to go back as new outbreaks occur. .
Musk, the richest man in the world and also CEO of SpaceX, also has a record of facing other billionaires. In 2021, he posted a picture of a second-place medal in response to a tweet from Jeff Bezos celebrating the success of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN.O).
In 2017, Farquhar’s co-founder of Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-operated with Musk, publicly accepting and facilitating his offer to supply a powerful Tesla battery facility for the state of South Australia after he left. suffer a blackout in 2017.
Cannon-Brookes, who has since led a campaign to buy Australian energy company AGL Energy Ltd (AGL.AX) and accelerate its transition to renewable energy, republished Farquhar’s statements criticizing the Musk’s return order to the office.
(This story was corrected to the United States list from the London list in paragraph 3.)
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Report by Byron Kaye; Editing by Bradley Perrett
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.