A million users is insignificant compared to the number of advertisers who have abandoned them, and it's probably causing cash flow problems which is one reason why he was so desperate to chase people away and/or fire them, and why Twitter has been liquidating equipment (that and the huge debt he's generated on Twitter's books.)

Remember how Twitter has stopped paying rent on a bunch of its offices? And Musk just cashed $3.5B in Tesla stock? They probably couldn't pay the rent without people going unpaid.

Not paying your rent is one thing, but not paying employees results in immediate, we-gonna-fuck-you-in-the-ass attention from governments around the world. My state treats non-payment of wages as a criminal offense by the officers of the company.