Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, is reportedly planning to lay off nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s workforce as part of his bid to acquire the microblogging site.
According to the report, which cited interviews and documents, job cuts are expected in the coming months regardless of who owns the company, according to a Washington Post report.
The news of Musk’s plans, should he eventually take over the company, comes at a difficult time for Twitter, according to the report.
In July, the company announced that it had “significantly slowed hiring” in response to a broader economic downturn in the tech industry, where many companies have announced recent hiring freezes and layoffs.
According to the report, human resources staff at the social media company told employees that no mass layoffs were planned, but documents revealed that extensive plans to push out staff and reduce infrastructure costs were already in place before Musk offered to buy the company.
However, while Twitter’s current management planned to lay off 25% of its workforce by the end of next year, a new report revealed Musk wants to reduce the company’s 7,500 employees to a “skeleton staff” of around 2,000 people.
According to the report, the layoffs will undoubtedly have an impact on Twitter’s daily operations, including its ability to moderate harmful content and combat security issues.
This comes after a damning whistleblower report in September accused Twitter of failing on both counts, claiming “egregious” flaws at the company.
