Elon Musk plans to chop as much as half of Twitter workforce

Elon Musk has drawn up plans to fireplace as a lot as half of Twitter’s 7,500-strong workforce, in response to folks acquainted with the matter, in a serious cost-cutting overhaul that would come by the top of the week.

The billionaire is seeking to minimize round 3,700 jobs at Twitter after his $44bn buyout of the social media firm, two folks mentioned, though the precise determine might change. He additionally goals to mandate in-office work from Monday, reversing Twitter’s present coverage, which permits staffers to work from anyplace, one of many folks mentioned.

The job losses are anticipated to happen on Friday, if not sooner, one other individual mentioned. Information of the plans was first reported by Bloomberg. Twitter couldn’t be reached for remark.

Musk has already stamped his mark on Twitter since closing the acquisition per week in the past, asking staffers to work across the clock on choose initiatives.

On Wednesday, Musk introduced one such mission: Twitter plans to supply a premium $8 a month subscription service that may confirm customers, enhance the visibility of their posts and permit them to see fewer ads.

He has additionally set in movement plans to considerably cut back headcount, after beforehand saying he might minimize jobs and prices to make Twitter “wholesome”.

On the finish of final week, he overhauled the administration group, firing executives together with Twitter chief Parag Agrawal. He introduced in a small group of trusted advisers, together with his private lawyer Alex Spiro and enterprise capitalist David Sacks, to assist him assess methods to run the corporate.

Over the weekend, Musk requested some managers and advisers to drag collectively lists of whom to sack, in response to folks acquainted with the matter, whereas a number of different leaders within the enterprise, comparable to chief business officer Sarah Personette, introduced their resignations.

The price-cutting measures come as Musk faces issues from advertisers, the supply of a majority of Twitter’s revenues, who fear that his plans to loosen content material moderation guidelines on the platform will result in an increase in inappropriate content material.

L’Oréal has determined to droop promoting on the platform, whereas Interpublic, one of many world’s largest advert teams, advisable its purchasers pause spending on Twitter for the subsequent week, in response to recommendation first reported by Morning Brew.

In a single e mail despatched to a media company this week and seen by the Monetary Instances, Twitter requested manufacturers to “bear with us as we transfer by way of this transition”, including that it had not modified its content material moderation insurance policies and sought to be “heat and welcoming to all”.

In a name on Wednesday with high promoting spenders on Twitter, Musk instructed manufacturers he deliberate to supply completely different tiers of content material moderation, just like a movie ranking system, in response to three folks acquainted with the dialog. He additionally reassured these on the decision he had no plans to cast off content material moderation roles on the firm, one of many folks mentioned.

Nevertheless, Musk additionally appeared to dismiss entrepreneurs’ issues on Wednesday, tweeting a ballot that requested if advertisers ought to help free speech or political “correctness”.