Los Angeles: The Washington Post stated that a $44 billion purchase of Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk may result in a wave of significant layoffs within the firm.
According to the Post, when pitching his plan to buy Twitter to investors, Musk stated that he intended to lay off close to three-quarters of the company’s workforce, bringing its headcount to just over 2,000.
Even if Musk’s proposal to acquire Twitter falls through, the business still plans to eliminate nearly $800 million from its payroll by the end of next year, according to the newspaper, which would result in the layoff of about a quarter of its employees.
According to a person who saw the email, Twitter General Counsel Sean Edgett, however, reportedly informed staff members via email on Thursday that there are no plans for layoffs at the firm.
According to the Post, which cited interviews and papers, staff reductions at the San Francisco-based corporation would probably make it more difficult for the platform to police offensive remarks and maintain data security.
“Once Elon Musk buys Twitter, he may do as he pleases,” said Carl Tobias, a legal professor at the University of Richmond.
“And I believe he intends to,”
Before Musk came along and “battered it and litigated it to death,” Twitter was already facing financial difficulties.
Despite Musk’s attempts to back out of the takeover agreement, Twitter had filed a lawsuit to enforce the terms of the agreement.
After Musk announced a change of heart, a US judge recently put the saga’s litigation on hold and gave the parties until October 28 to complete the on-again, off-again megadeal.
On a call to discuss Tesla’s quarterly earnings this week, Musk responded to inquiries by saying, “I’m excited by the Twitter issue.
Although I and the other investors are clearly overpaying for Twitter at the moment, I believe it to be an asset that has long lain dormant but has enormous potential.
Activists are concerned about Musk’s prospective leadership of the prominent social media platform because they believe it could lead to an increase in rude and inaccurate messages.