Half of Twitter's Staff May Be Laid Off After Elon Musk Takeover

As Elon Musk takes over Twitter, half of its employees may bid goodbye as the richest man in the world plans to begin laying off its staff as soon as Saturday.

This is according to Ross Gerber, chief executive of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, who was quoted by the New York Times saying that he was told by Jared Birchall, the head of Musk's family office, that Twitter under the billionaire may lay off "around 50 percent" of its around 7,500 employees.

The New York Times also reported that four people who knew about the planned layoffs said some managers are beinf asked to list down employees who would get the chop.

After Musk completed a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter last Thursday, he ordered a staff reduction across the company, with some teams more impacted than others, according to three sources who refused to be named for fear of retaliation.

The cuts might happen before November 1, when Twitter employees are expected to get stock grants, which are usually a large chunk of their pay.

But if staff were laid off before this payout, Musk might not pay the grants, although he is supposed to pay employees in cash instead, according to the New York Times.

The New York Times asked Twitter and a representative of Musk to comment, but they did not respond.

Since Musk agreed to purchase the company in April this year, reports of workforce reduction at Twitter have circulated.

The New York Times also reported that the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire had informed investors that he would take Twitter private, cut its workforce, reduce content moderation rules and look for new revenue streams.

It was previously reported by multiple news outlets that Musk began firing top executives at Twitter on Thursday, including its chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, top legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde and general counsel Sean Edgett.