Twitter said it would start laying off employees on Friday as new billionaire Elon Musk moves quickly to make the messaging platform financially healthy following his big acquisition.
A company-wide email seen by AFP says Twitter employees will be notified of their fate via email on Friday at business start time, California time.
There is no number, but the Washington Post and the New York Times reported that about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees will be laid off.
“In order to put Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce,” the email reads.
Twitter workers have braced themselves for this kind of bad news since Musk completed his mammoth $44 billion acquisition late last week and quickly moved to dismantle the board and fire the CEO and top executives .
A workplace and employee evaluation and other projects Musk commissioned were reportedly so exhausting and grueling that some engineers stayed overnight at Twitter headquarters over the weekend.
The email sent on Thursday urged workers to go home and not report to work on Friday.
“Our offices will be temporarily closed and access to all ID cards will be suspended,” the email said. Those on their way to the office should turn around and go home.”
The email confirmed that Twitter is going through “an incredibly challenging experience.”
“We are aware that this will affect a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but unfortunately this action is necessary to ensure the continued success of the company,” it added.
Burdened with the purchase of Twitter, which Musk says he overpaid for, the tycoon is looking for ways to make money off Twitter — and fast.
His most recent idea was to charge anyone on Twitter $8 a month who would receive a blue “verified” badge, assuring the public that the account is authentic.
A news report this week said Musk wanted to charge $20 a month but faced backlash, including from best-selling author Stephen King, who tweeted, “$20 a month to keep my blue check?” It followed an expletive.
Musk responded on Twitter, apparently negotiating with King: “We’ve got to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”
Musk has said he wants to grow Twitter’s revenue from $5 billion last year to more than $26 billion in 2028.
Global leaders including General Mills and Volkswagen suspended their advertising on Twitter on Thursday as pressure mounts on Musk to turn his platform into a successful business.
US auto giant General Motors last week became the first major advertiser to suspend advertising after the takeover.
Officials and civil rights groups have expressed concern Musk will open the site to uncontrolled hate speech and misinformation and reactivate suspended accounts, including former US President Donald Trump.
Advertisers are Twitter’s main source of income, and Musk has tried to calm nerves by assuring that the site would not become a “free hellscape.”
