Elon Musk reportedly cutting 75% of Twitter's workforce after buyout

Musk told investors he will get rid of three-fourths of the social media firm’s 7,500 workers, Washington Post reports.

Job cuts are expected in the coming months, no matter who owns Twitter, according to the report.
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Job cuts are expected in the coming months, no matter who owns Twitter, according to the report.

Billionaire Elon Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy Twitter Inc that he planned to get rid of nearly 75 percent of the social media company's 7,500 workers, the Washington Post has reported, citing interviews and certain documents.

Thursday's development came after Tesla CEO Musk decided to continue his $44 billion Twitter buyout and suggested a major transformation in the tech company.

Job cuts are expected in the coming months, no matter who owns the company, according to the report.

Twitter's current management planned to pare the company's payroll by about $800 million by the end of next year, a number that would mean the departure of nearly a quarter of the workforce, the report said.

The company also decided to make major cuts to Twitter's infrastructure, including data centres that keep the site functioning for more than 200 million users that log on each day.

READ MORE: Musk offers to close Twitter buyout at $44B

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Buying Twitter

Human resources staff at the social media company have told employees that they were not planning for mass layoffs, but documents showed extensive plans to push out staff and cut down on infrastructure costs were already in place before Musk offered to buy the company, the Post reported.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk had tried to walk away from the deal to buy Twitter in May alleging the company understated the number of bot and spam accounts on the social media platform, which started a series of lawsuits between the two parties.

Earlier this month, Musk reversed course and said he will proceed with the deal on the original terms.

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