Twitter said it will start laying off employees on Friday, as the new billionaire owner Elon Musk moves quickly after his big takeover to make the messaging platform financially sound.
A company-wide email seen by AFP says Twitter employees will receive word via email at the start of business Friday, California time, as to what their fate is.
It does not give a number but the Washington Post and New York Times reported that about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees will be let go.
Twitter employees have been bracing for this kind of bad news since Musk completed his mammoth $44 billion acquisition late last week and quickly set about cleaning house, dissolving its board and firing its chief executive and top managers.
A workplace and employee review and other projects ordered by Musk were reportedly so exhaustive and grueling that some engineers reported sleeping at Twitter headquarters over the weekend.
The email sent Thursday told workers to go home and not report for work on Friday.
“In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global work force,” the email said.
“We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward,” it added.
