Twitter is aiming at broader job cuts after Musk’s takeover

Twitter Inc. drafted plans for broad layoffs as part of a whirlwind several days in which new boss Musk fired top executives, saying it was for cause, sought to reassure advertisers and users about content moderation, and continued to embrace controversies and jokes on the site.

The proposed layoffs under consideration by Musk, who took the social media platform private for $44 billion, are expected to reduce engineering and affect other areas at the firm, according to sources. According to a disclosure earlier in 2022, Twitter had roughly 7,500 employees.

Musk fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and three other top executives for cause and is saying he is not required to pay them multimillion-dollar severance packages that had been expected, according to sources.

After the takeover, Musk has been working with a team of associates, including attorney Alex Spiro and venture capitalist and former Twitter product leader Sriram Krishnan.

According to FactSet, Twitter has posted a loss in eight of its previous 10 fiscal years. Musk’s takeover arrives as the social media industry faces the most turbulent business environment in its history.

One of the first issues Musk is aiming to tackle is costs, according to sources. He told employees in June that he believed costs were not a great situation at Twitter.