Brain Drain: Set aside any issues with employees not wanting to work for a Musk-run Twitter if they believe would be more toxic. I would still expect a lot of

Brain Drain: Set aside any issues with employees not wanting to work for a Musk-run Twitter if they believe would be more toxic. I would still expect a lot of employees to look for the exit right now. First is simply the uncertainty involved: Large restructuring, reassignments, or layoffs could occur and it's always nicer to find a new job before you begin to hate your old one or lose it all together. Second is compensation: Equity via stock options or awards boosts total compensation, but it's much more complicated in private companies. There's been a commitment to the same benefit plan for the next year, but beyond that no new ones can be issued after the deal closes until Musk decides what they will look like. If he doesn't commit to keeping a similar vesting & award schedule then it will be a problem. Then there's liquidity. You can't sell private equity the same way you can with a public company. Again, if Musk doesn't commit to preserving the same liquidity as employees would have in a public company by allowing stock sales back to the company at-will then it will be a downgrade in compensation. SpaceX uses an internal market to provide liquidity to employees for this, but Twitter will be more uncertain. It will depending on how many current investors decide to stick around & their appetite for increasing their shares. SpaceX is also on a strong growth track, giving awards & options a likely increased value in the future while Twitter is on much more uncertain footing, especially with Musk emphasizing that it's not an economic investment for him. A stock grant equal to $50k today at SpaceX might grow to $100k by the time an employee wants to sell, whereas the same grant at Twitter may not have the same expected growth. It will also be difficult to hire new people until this is settled. Anyone accepting a job right now will have no idea when or how they'll be able to cash in any stock compensation promised in the benefits package. As for the ideological issues, that may balance out. People leaving for such reasons by could be offset by new employees seeking jobs because they like the new content direction, although the extra churn will still make operations more turbulent for some time.