The Washington Post reported on Thursday (20th) that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, will complete the Twitter acquisition next Friday (28th) and plans to “slim down” Twitter in a few months. Lay off nearly 75% of Twitter’s workforce.
Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter is expected to close on Oct. 28, and Musk reportedly told investors he planned to lay off Twitter when he first sought financing from bankers, The Washington Post ” reported on Thursday (20th) with more details.
Although Twitter’s human resources unit has told employees that the company has no major layoff plans, relevant documents show that,Musk has told potential investors that Twitter currently employs regarding 7,500 people, and he plans to lay off 75% (regarding 5,600 employees), leaving more than 2,000 people.
Such layoffs have sparked criticism from some. Edwin Chen, a former Twitter spam and health indicator data scientist, slammed: “75% layoffs are unimaginable, this will have a knock-on effect, the quality of Twitter’s service will decline, it will also greatly reduce employee morale, and lose confidence in the company. to leave.”
Nell Minow, vice chairman of ValueEdge Advisors and an expert on corporate governance, said: “Musk has to be able to show that if he does lay off 75% of Twitter’s workforce, what will happen next? What will he replace people with, artificial intelligence (AI)? “
Analysts believe the 75 percent figure is likely just his trick to attract investment partners to impress the bankers or wealthy people he talks to.
The report said that layoffs appear to be inevitable, regardless of the size of the final Twitter cut. Twitter management has decided it plans to lay off regarding a quarter of its workforce and cut payrolls by $800 million by the end of next year.
Twitter (TWTR-US) closed in a 1.18% dividend at $52.44 a share on Thursday, still slightly below Musk’s $54.20 a share offer price, and its shares edged down more than 0.3% following hours, bringing their year-to-date losses to more than 22%.