Elon Musk Plans to Reduce Half of Twitter Jobs to Slash Prices: Report

In a bid to drive down prices, Elon Musk plans to remove 50% of Twitter (TWTR) workforce immediately, in keeping with individuals with data of the matter.

Twitter’s new proprietor together with the workforce of advisers has been weighing a variety of eventualities for job cuts and different coverage modifications, including that the phrases of the headcount discount might nonetheless change and asking workers to report back to places of work as an alternative of work-from-anywhere coverage, although some exceptions might be made. In a single state of affairs being thought of, laid-off staff will probably be supplied 60 days’ price of severance pay, two of the individuals stated.

A sequence of layoffs began as quickly as Musk took over the social media firm together with Chief Govt Officer Parag Agrawal, finance chief Ned Segal and senior authorized staffers Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett. Within the days that adopted, different departures have included Chief Advertising Officer Leslie Berland, Chief Buyer Officer Sarah Personette, and Jean-Philippe Maheu, vp of worldwide shopper options. After the layoffs had been sorted, Twitter Chief Accounting Officer Robert Kaiden left the corporate, changing into one of many final pre-Musk C-suite executives to depart, in keeping with individuals acquainted with the matter.

Senior personnel on the product groups had been requested to focus on a 50% discount in headcount, an individual acquainted with the matter stated this week. The evaluation are being made by each Tesla personnel and Twitter managers.

Issues over steep personnel cuts began to swirl within the run-up to Musk’s buyout, when potential buyers had been instructed that he’d remove 75% of the workforce, which stood at about 7,500 on the finish of 2021. Musk later denied that the cuts can be that deep.

In latest weeks, Musk began hinting at his staffing priorities, saying he needs to give attention to the core product. “Software program engineering, server operations & design will rule the roost,” he tweeted in early October.

On the product aspect, The corporate will quickly begin charging $8-a-month for verification, which incorporates badges, in keeping with individuals acquainted with the plans.

Musk appointed himself “Chief Twit” in his bio on the social community. Bloomberg reported earlier that he would tackle the function of interim CEO himself.

He additionally dissolved the corporate’s board and have become sole director, saying later that it’s “simply short-term.”

Musk believes he overpaid for Twitter by agreeing to pay $54.20, valuing the corporate at $44B. He then tried to maneuver out claiming Twitter had not been forthcoming about spam and bots on its platform, which he claimed would quantity to a cloth opposed impact. Ultimately, Musk closed the deal taking Twitter non-public on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Twitter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

In October, Meta Platforms (META) introduced that it’s eliminating 15% of its workforce or approx.12,000 workers at Fb to slash its headcount as international headwinds and falling advert spends pose severe issues.

In August, Snap (SNAP), the maker of the ephemeral messaging app Snapchat, laid off 20 p.c of its workers.