Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter, has reportedly set up a new order to cut almost 50% of the current Twitter workforce in the wake of taking control of the company late last week, and these layoffs are said to start as soon as the weekend.
A report from The New York Times stated that Musk “ordered the cuts across the company, with some teams to be trimmed more than others,” adding that “some managers [were] being asked to draw up lists of employees to cut.”
This past Thursday, Musk officially acquired the company in the wake of his $44 billion purchase being finalized after an extremely long drama-laden six-month process that saw him try and pull out of the deal at the last second.
The chief executive of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, Ross Gerber, stated that he was officially told by one top official from the Musk camp that massive downsizing was on the horizon for the company’s 7,500-person workforce.
“I was told to expect somewhere around 50 percent of people will be laid off,” stated Gerber.
Reportedly, the layoffs are slated to kick off prior to employees being scheduled to get their stock grants as part of their compensation, the report went on.
Various reports made their rounds this past week which stated that Musk was planning to slash up to a massive 75% of the platform’s workforce, although he reportedly attempted to push back against the report that the number would actually be that high.
Musk started his new leadership of the company by firing leftist CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, as reported by The Washington Post. The report stated that Musk also chose to fire Sean Edgett, the general counsel kept on staff for the company, who was fully escorted out of the building after everything was finalized.
Musk put out his own statement early Thursday morning to the world advertisers in which he explained why he sought to buy Twitter and promised them that they do not need to worry about Twitter ending up as a “free-for-all hellscape.”
“I wanted to reach out personally to share my motivation in acquiring Twitter,” stated Musk. “There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising. Most of it has been wrong.”
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk went on. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
“In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost,” stated Musk. “That is why I bought Twitter. I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility.”
“That said, Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” stated musk in conclusion. “In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”
