In a series of rapid changes to the Twitterverse, Elon Musk plans to lay off about 3,700 Twitter employees, or about half the current workforce, according to a Bloomberg report Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter.
The move is an attempt to cut costs following Musk’s $44 billion purchase of the company. The interim CEO also plans to repeal the current “work-from-anywhere” policy that was put in place at the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The remaining employees are to report to Twitter offices with some exceptions, and Musk plans to notify employees affected by the layoffs on Friday, the report said.
Since Musk took over the social media platform, several Twitter executives have been fired, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust and safety. Musk also announced his decision to earn Twitter Blue $8 a month, banned hundreds of employees from content moderation systems days before the midterms, and flirted with the idea of a “paywalled video” feature.
While Musk officially acquired the platform on Thursday, Oct. 27, in a deal he was initially trying to back out of, reports of impending layoffs come as no surprise. Since first announcing he would buy the company in April, he previously shared a pitch deck with investors that revealed he plans to take Twitter private and lay off employees to attract new engineering talent.
Product team leaders were asked to cut their workforce by half, and other executives were asked to make lists of team members they would cut, Bloomberg reports.
Musk appears to be reveling in his new position. He has since updated his Twitter bio from previously self-proclaimed “Chief Twit” to “Twitter Complaints Line Operator.” Earlier this week, pundits who had been praising the billionaire just days before turned against him after he revealed part of his content moderation strategy to form a council and consult with “civil society leaders.”
“Being attacked from the right and left at the same time is a good sign,” Musk tweeted in response.