Elon Musk intends to lay off 75% of Twitter’s workforce
Elon Musk intends to fire the majority of Twitter’s employees if and when he acquires the social media company, according to a report published Thursday by The Washington Post.
According to the report, Musk has told prospective Twitter investors that he intends to lay off nearly 75% of the company’s 7,500 employees, leaving the company with a skeleton crew.
Documents and unnamed sources familiar with the discussions were cited by the newspaper.
Twitter in San Francisco and a representative for Musk attorney Alex Spiro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
While job cuts were expected regardless of the sale, Musk’s proposed cuts are far more severe than anything Twitter had planned.
Musk has previously alluded to the need to lay off some of the company’s employees, but he has never given a specific number — at least not publicly.
Already, experts, non-profits, and even Twitter employees have warned that reducing investments in content moderation and data security could harm Twitter and its users.
With such a drastic reduction, the platform could quickly become overrun with harmful content and spam — the latter of which Musk has stated he will address if he becomes the owner of the company.
Musk backed out of his $44 billion bid to buy Twitter in April, claiming that Twitter misrepresented the number of fake “spam bot” accounts on its platform.
Twitter filed a lawsuit, and a Delaware judge has given both parties until Oct. 28 to work out the details. Otherwise, a trial will be held in November.
