Twitter: Musk wants to lay off 75 percent of employees

Elon Musk has announced to potential investors that he intends to lay off around 75 percent of Twitter’s workforce. He sees this as an essential tool for increasing the company’s profits. The current Twitter management wants to reassure the employees.

Firing plans

Bloomberg reports Musk indicated to investment bankers as part of his initial takeover bid that he wants to significantly reduce Twitter’s workforce. Of previously about 7,500 employees, only about 2,000 are to remain. Musk apparently sees this as a means of increasing the company’s profits – and thus making it more interesting for potential investors as well as for himself. At the same time, he announced plans to double sales within two years, according to Bloomberg.

Whether the plans are still current or were ever meant seriously is not clear. Musk himself has proven to be extremely unreliable in the past. In April, for example, he had announced the takeover of Twitter, only to attempt to withdraw from the already concluded purchase agreement shortly thereafter. A legal battle subsequently developed between Twitter and Musk, during which he accused the company of misleading him with false information. Twitter sued Musk, who placed a countersuit, only to surprisingly announce shortly thereafter that he would now go ahead with the purchase after all on the terms originally agreed. The transaction is now expected to be completed by October 28.

Twitter wants to reassure employees

Meanwhile, the company’s management, which is still in office, is trying to reassure its workforce. Sean Edgett, the company’s lead lawyer, addressed employees in a memo urging them not to rely on rumors, saying, “We have no confirmation of the buyer’s plans after closing and recommend that you not follow rumors or leaked documents, but wait directly for facts from us and the buyer.” However, this is by no means a clear denial of the plans; rather, Edgett expresses not knowing himself what exactly Musk is planning.

He has already proven in other companies that he has no regard for the interests of his employees and tries to push through his economic interests against all opposition. At the beginning of the pandemic, for example, he complained about the health protection regulations in Tesla factories, which lowered the efficiency of production. He also reopened a factory during a lockdown in California, which was forbidden.