SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk, the tech tycoon, told Twitter employees that the platform "needs to get healthy" financially and slash costs, implying that if his offer to buy the social media service goes through, job cuts are probable.

During an internal Question & Answers, Musk was asked about the likelihood of layoffs and responded, "Right now costs surpass income, "That isn't a good situation,"  mentioning staff, The Verge reported. 

Since Musk initially indicated he intended to buy Twitter, the possibility of layoffs has been on the minds of the company's more than 7,000 employees.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal informed staff at a previous meeting that no layoffs were planned "at this time." Despite the fact that Musk did not indicate whether or not there would be job losses, his statements suggest that the chances are high.

Meanwhile, he stated that employees who perform "excellent" job should be permitted to work from home. He did clarify, however, that he prefers to work in person and that he would confirm with managers that distant employees were making a positive contribution to the company.

The response came at a virtual all-hands meeting with Twitter employees, during which the Tesla CEO spoke for the first time to the company's employees and answered pre-submitted questions read out by a Twitter executive. The meeting takes place in the midst of Musk's USD44 billion takeover bid.

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