X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, disclosed that the company’s product team comprises only 30 key members. Bier shared this information in a recent post on X, where he explained the decision to remove the dim mode feature. He mentioned that the team’s current capacity limits them to supporting only two colors and discussed plans to adjust the black color on the web. In a subsequent response, Bier highlighted the disparity in team sizes between X and its industry competitors, citing Meta with 87,000 employees, Microsoft with 221,000, and Google with 190,000, in contrast to X’s team of 30. He also announced job openings for engineers in Palo Alto, emphasizing the streamlined communication process within the company.
Following inquiries by X users about how a global platform could be sustained by such a small team, Elon Musk intervened in the conversation on X to provide clarity. Musk revealed that approximately 30 engineers from his artificial intelligence company, xAI, contribute to X’s AI-based recommendation system, supporting the core product team.
Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 for approximately $44 billion and subsequently reduced the workforce from approximately 7,500 employees to around 1,500 by 2023, marking an estimated 80% reduction. Since assuming ownership, he has revamped the platform, rebranding it as X and introducing new monetization and verification systems as part of a broader transition towards subscriptions and content focused on creators.