The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing interviews and records, that billionaire Elon Musk informed potential investors in his attempt to buy Twitter Inc that he intended to fire about 75 per cent of the social media company’s 7,500 employees.
Twitter jumped in to save the day later and clarified to staff that there are no plans for company-wide layoffs. Twitter General Counsel Sean Edgett emailed employees on Thursday saying the company does not plan layoffs, according to a source who viewed the email.
Regardless of who owns the company, employment cutbacks are anticipated in the upcoming months.
According to the source, Twitter’s current management intended to reduce the company’s payroll by around $800 million by the end of the next year, which would result in the departure of close to a quarter of the employees.
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The Washington Post reported that despite assurances from the social media company’s human resources department that mass layoffs were not in the works, substantial preparations to fire personnel and reduce infrastructure expenses were in place even before Musk made an acquisition offer.
A request for comment from Reuters did not receive a response right away from Twitter.
In May, Musk attempted to back out of the agreement to purchase Twitter, claiming the firm had misrepresented the amount of spam and bot accounts on the social media site. This sparked a string of legal disputes between the two sides.
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Musk changed his mind earlier this month and declared he would carry out the agreement under its original provisions.
(With inputs from agencies)
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