Twitter locked staff out of their stock accounts Monday in anticipation of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company.
The company’s employee FAQ page alerted staff that they would no longer be able to trade or access their shares. Many Twitter employees make a significant amount of their income from stock options.
“This freeze allows Schwab to perform final reconciliation of employee accounts prior to close of acquisition,” said the notice to employees.
Some of the stock options are set to vest and become free to sell this month, forcing Twitter employees who plan on resigning once Mr. Musk takes over the company will have to wait until the freeze is lifted.
Employees at Twitter responded negatively to the original announcement that Mr. Musk planned to buy the company. In the proceeding months, many employees have used covert messaging apps to share tips on how to best deal with the possibility of layoffs or a changing work environment.
Mr. Musk has said he is not in favor of some of the more liberal work policies at Twitter, including a permanent remote work policy.
The deadline for Mr. Musk and Twitter to finalize the $44 billion deal is Oct. 28.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.