X owner Elon Musk largely runs the social media giant from his iPhone, employees say

• Elon Musk leads the social media giant X from his iPhone, employees told the Financial Times.
• The billionaire doesn't like to see attachments, documents, or spreadsheets in emails from staff.

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, runs the social media giant from his iPhone and expects staff to send emails in a format that's easy for him to read on his phone, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Several former and current X employees told the FT that Musk steers the ship from his iPhone and if staff want to get his attention, their emails needed to be sent in a specific format. This includes no attachments, documents, or spreadsheets within the email.

Instead, Musk wants all information to be within the body of the email, per the FT.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Musk, who heads up four companies outside X — Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink — is renowned as a tough leader and has a long list of demands for his staffers.

Several executives from Tesla and The Boring Company, who make up part of Musk's inner circle, were brought in to help X make the transition when he bought the company for $44 billion in October 2022.

The old timers advised X staffers that Musk didn't have the tolerance for people who said things just to sound smart. He expected them to admit when they didn't know something and get back to him within a reasonable amount of time about the particular matter.

In November 2022, just weeks after Musk's takeover, it was reported that Musk's external advisors were referred to be some Twitter staff as "Elon's goons."

One former employee told the FT that Musk prefers "effective operators who are happy doing the bidding of someone else without question" rather than opinionated staffers.

"That's not a knock at him. He clearly has a track record of getting it right a lot," they said.

Musk even sent an ultimatum to X staff in November 2022 telling them to commit to an "extremely hardcore" vision of the company and work "long hours at high intensity," or they will be laid off.

Since becoming owner Musk has made many changes to the platform from launching a new $8 verification model called Twitter Blue, to reinstating previously banned accounts including that of Donald Trump, Kanye West, and Andrew Tate, and rebranding Twitter to X.