New Twitter owner starts with massive layoffs

Elon Musk is preparing a round of resignations at Twitter. The top entrepreneur took over the social media platform on Thursday for 44 billion dollars.

The billionaire has asked managers to draw up lists of employees who could be fired. An insider told Bloomberg News Agency.

The round of layoffs could begin as early as this weekend, the New York Times reported earlier. The paper is based on four sources with knowledge of the case. A Twitter spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Earlier, concerns about mass layoffs arose when potential investors were told by Musk that he wants to lay off 75 percent of employees. That’s 7,500 people. Musk later denied that he would fire so many people.

Musk has already fired much of Twitter’s leadership team, including its chief executive, chief financial officer, and two senior legal staffers. The Tesla boss, according to insiders, plans to take control of Twitter himself in the short term.

The entrepreneur wants to make Twitter “a bastion for freedom of expression”. Among other things, he has alluded to the return of the Donald Trump banned from Twitter. The former US president himself, by the way, says he does not want to return to the platform.