Elon Musk Twitter layoffs might dramatically reduce Twitter’s staff after his $44 billion acquisition of the social network is completed. According to the Washington Post, citing unidentified individuals and papers, the mega-billionaire has told possible investors in the Twitter acquisition that he expects to lay off over 75% of the company’s workers, or around 5,500 employees, to cut the size of its workforce from 7,500 to just over 2,000.
Elon Musk Twitter layoffs threaten jobs of many Twitter employees
Musk stated on Tesla’s third-quarter 2022 earnings call on Wednesday that he paid too much for Twitter. After three months of attempting to back out of the transaction, he agreed earlier this month to proceed with his original $54.20/share offer for Twitter. “Although, obviously, myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for Twitter right now, the long-term potential for Twitter in my view is an order of magnitude greater than its current value.”
Twitter management aimed to slash its salary by $800 million by the end of 2023, a 25% fall in the workforce. As a result, Musk’s $44 billion purchase is a “golden ticket for the struggling company, potentially helping its leadership avoid painful announcements that would have demoralized the staff and possibly crippled the service’s ability to combat misinformation, hate speech, and spam.”
In a statement to staff, Twitter general counsel Sean Edgett stated that the firm has had no intentions for companywide layoffs since signing the contract with Musk in April. Edgett stated that conversations among Twitter executives regarding prospective layoffs took place earlier this year, prior to the Musk agreement. “We do not have any confirmation of [Musk’s] plans following close and recommend not following rumors or leaked documents but rather wait for facts from us and the buyer directly,” Edgett stated.
Musk stated in a June 16 Q&A with Twitter workers that “rationalization of headcount” is required, and that “Anyone who is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about.” That was before Musk attempted to back out of the transaction in early July, prompting the firm to sue him in order to enforce the terms of the merger agreement. Musk obviously changed his mind after recognizing he would very certainly lose his legal battle with Twitter over the arrangement.
The Delaware Chancery Court judge presiding over the lawsuit approved Musk’s request to postpone the trial until Oct. 28 in order for him to arrange the debt financing required to finalize the deal. Progressive organizations are fearful that the right-wing Musk may reverse Twitter’s standards against hate speech and disinformation. Musk has stated that he wants Twitter to adhere to “free speech” values, and has accused the corporation of silencing conservatives.
Musk has also stated that he will reinstate Donald Trump’s Twitter account, which was permanently suspended in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol for breaking the social network’s policy on encouragement to violence after he supported the rioters. Musk described Twitter’s ban on the 45th President of the United States as a “morally bad decision” and “flat-out wrong.” Trump was also barred from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, Snapchat, and other internet sites for similar policy breaches.
Musk’s attorneys notified Twitter of the termination on July 8, stating that the business “appears to have made false and misleading representations” that constituted a violation of the agreement. Among other things, Musk claims that his team’s earliest estimations of the number of spam and fraudulent accounts on Twitter were “wildly higher” than Twitter’s repeated claims of a sub-5% figure. Twitter’s attorneys accused Musk of having buyer’s remorse and claiming he wanted to back out of the purchase due to a dip in the price of Tesla’s shares (which accounts for the majority of Musk’s net worth).
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