United States: After a US$44 billion acquisition, Elon Musk intends to cut nearly 3,700 jobs in half the workforce of Twitter Inc., or the social media company, in an effort to reduce costs.
The individuals who requested anonymity to discuss the private plans said the new owner of Twitter wants to notify affected employees on Friday.
Musk plans to reverse the current work-from-anywhere policy of business and require remaining employees to report to offices, although some exceptions can be made, according to People.
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People said the specifics of the workforce reduction could still change as Musk and a group of advisers at San Francisco-based Twitter considered various scenarios for job cuts and other policy changes.
Two people said that in one scenario, employees who are laid off would be provided 60 days of severance pay. A Twitter spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
Musk is under pressure to cut costs for a company he claims has overpaid. As the market was falling, the billionaire decided to pay US$54.20 per share in April.
Then, for months, he attempted to back away from the deal, claiming that the company had misled him about the proliferation of fake accounts.
Twitter sued to force Musk to keep his promise, and in recent weeks, Musk has surrendered and decided to close the deal under predetermined terms. The buyout agreement was finalized on Thursday.
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Ever since Musk took over and immediately fired a large part of the top executive team, including CEO Parag Agarwal, finance chief Ned Sehgal, and senior legal staff Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett, Twitter employees have been preparing for layoffs.
Other departures in the following days included Jean-Philippe Mhow, Vice President of Global Customer Solutions, Sarah Persnet, Chief Customer Officer, and Leslie Berland, Chief Marketing Officer.
Musk dubbed himself "Chief Tweet" in his social media bio. Bloomberg previously reported that he would take the position of acting CEO. Additionally, he dissolved the company's board of directors and took over as sole director, later claiming it was "just temporary".
According to people with knowledge of the situation, several employees with director and vice president positions were let go over the weekend. People claimed that other leaders were asked to compile a list of team members who could be let go.
A person with knowledge of the situation said this week that senior members of product teams were instructed to aim for a 50% reduction in headcount.
According to the source, engineers and directors of automaker Tesla Inc., led by Musk, reviewed the lists. According to sources, the layoff list was made and ranked on the basis of contribution to the Twitter code of the employees while they were employed by the company.
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Tesla employees and Twitter managers both voiced their opinions. Prior to Musk's buyout, concerns over significant staff cuts first surfaced when potential investors were informed that he would lay off 75% of the workforce, a figure estimated at 7,500 by the end of 2021. Musk later denied the claims that the cuts would be deeper.
Musk recently began making suggestions about his hiring priorities, saying he wants to focus on the core product. In early October, he tweeted, "Software engineering, server operations and design will rule the roost."