Bloomberg Línea — The mass layoffs announced by Twitter (TWTR) last Friday also hit its main markets in Latin America: Brazil and Mexico, although the extent of the layoffs is yet to be made clear.
A person familiar with the changes in Twitter told Bloomberg Línea that a large part of the Brazil team was laid off, except for around 20 salespeople of the 150 employees on the team. On Monday, Twitter’s HR department started calling staff that were severed last Friday to arrange their formal termination.
People familiar with the discussions also said that Brazil’s country manager Fiamma Zarife is still in place.
In Mexico, contrary to initial reports of a generalized termination of staff, the layoffs did not affect all of Twitter’s employees, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Mexico office, according to a source who worked at the social network, housed around 50 employees.
One person on the Mexican Twitter staff until last week told Bloomberg Línea that not all Twitter employees in the country had lost their jobs, although at first they were all blocked from accessing their computers, Slack and email last Friday without further information on what their status at the company was.
The source said that, over the weekend, they were still uncertain as to whether they still had a job. When the company sent emails to scores of employees telling them they had been severed, a few of the Mexican staff also received the message. Bloomberg Línea has since learned that some of them will return to work, but at least two will not.
Almudena Blanco, head of agencies for Twitter Mexico, tweeted on Saturday that she remains in her position.
“I am grateful to still be @Twitter and being able to continue supporting my family, my heart breaks for my colleagues who were not as lucky. Need to fill a position? Give me a call, I have some good recommendations,” Blanco tweeted.
Blanco had suggested on Friday that she had been fired in a tweet that has now been deleted.
In Colombia, another of the country’s main markets in the region, the local office had long operated with support from other regional Twitter staffers.
Bloomberg Línea has contacted Twitter for comment regarding the layoffs in Mexico, but neither Twitter’s press office nor the social network’s communications department has provided further details.
Dozens of Twitter employees have also been contacted for comment, but have so far declined to provide more information.
