Elon Musk may drastically reduce Twitter’s workforce once his $44 billion deal to acquire the social media network closes.
The multi-billionaire has disclosed to potential Twitter investors that he intends to fire about 75% of the company’s employees. The Washington Post claimed, this is to reduce the number of its personnel from 7,500 to slightly over 2,000.
Requests for a reaction from Twitter and Musk’s representatives went unanswered.
Musk claimed he was overpaying for Twitter during Tesla’s third-quarter 2022 earnings call on Wednesday. Nevertheless, he decided to proceed with his initial $54.20 per share bid for Twitter earlier this month. After making three months’ worth of attempts to cancel the agreement.
According to the Post report, Twitter management had intended to reduce its payroll by $800 million by the end of 2023, or 25% of its current staff. Musk’s $44 billion purchase is, therefore, a “golden ticket for the struggling company,” according to the Post article, “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.”
According to a Bloomberg article, Twitter general counsel Sean Edgett stated that the business has no intentions for company-wide layoffs since it inked the agreement with Musk in April in a note to staff after the Washington Post piece. Edgett claimed that earlier in the year, before the Musk agreement, discussions regarding possible layoffs were among Twitter leadership.
Elon Musk had it coming
Musk stated that there needs to be a rationalization of headcount in a June 16 Q&A with Twitter staff. He added that “anyone who is a substantial contributor should have nothing to worry about.” That was before Musk attempted to back out of the deal in early July. Before the Twitter sued him to enforce the merger agreement’s terms. Musk changed his mind after recognizing that he would probably lose his legal battle with Twitter over the arrangement.
The Delaware Chancery Court judge in charge of the lawsuit granted Musk’s request to postpone the trial until October 28 to give him time to arrange the debt financing he needs to finalize the purchase.
Worries about far-right leaning
Progressive organizations are worried that the right-leaning Musk may change Twitter’s rules limiting hate speech and false information. Musk has claimed that he wants to force Twitter to follow “free speech” guidelines and has charged the business with restricting conservatives.
Musk has also stated that he will restore Donald Trump’s Twitter account. After the social media platform permanently blocked him. Following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 for violating its policy on inciting violence after he supported the rioters. Musk referred to Twitter’s move to block the 45th American president as “morally awful” and “flat-out incorrect.” Trump was also barred from using YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and other tech platforms.
Read Also: Elon Musk: Investigation commences over Twitter deal
According to Musk’s attorneys, the corporation appears to have made false and misleading statements, constituting a breach of the agreement. As a result, on July 8, they informed Twitter that they were ending the arrangement. Among other things, Musk stated that his team’s first estimations of the percentage of spam and were “wildly greater” than the sub-5% level Twitter has frequently claimed.
After the price of Tesla’s shares (which make up most of Musk’s net worth) fell. Twitter’s lawyers claimed Musk had “buyer’s remorse” and wanted to back out of the arrangement.
