Elon Musk's brother laid off most of his staff via Zoom

Elon Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, is closing down most locations of his hydroponic "smart farm" startup, resulting in many employees being abruptly laid off.

Company Overview: Square Roots, co-founded by Kimbal Musk and Tobias Peggs in 2016, is a startup focused on indoor vertical farming.

This tech-driven venture had numerous locations across the United States.

However, most of these sites, along with the majority of staff, are now being let go.

The employees were informed about their layoffs through a sudden Zoom call.

Reason for Layoffs: The company has stated that the layoffs and site closures are due to a shift in their business model towards "farming as a service".

The new direction implies operating their climate-controlled farms solely for strategic partners.

They aim to pause commercial production temporarily while reconfiguring their facilities to suit the new business model.

However, the future of the laid-off employees remains uncertain.

Impact on Employees: The layoffs were sudden and shocking for the employees.

One former employee expressed that it didn't seem like they would be offered their jobs back anytime soon.

Many of them feel as if they are starting from scratch again.

Company's Future: The firm is planning to adapt its facilities for their new "farming as a service" model.

It's unclear when and how the company plans to reinstate the laid-off staff.

The company promises to revive the offline facilities in the future but provides no specific timeline.