Elon Musk Plans To Gut Twitter Workforce: Report

With an Oct. 28 deadline for Elon Musk to close a $44-billion buyout of Twitter Inc TWTR approaching, a new report says he plans to layoff almost 75% of the social media platform's staff once he takes over the C-suite. 

What Happened: The world's richest man has told prospective investors in the deal that he would take Twitter's staffing from 7,000 to 2,000 employees, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing documents and interviews obtained by the newspaper. 

Even if Musk does not purchase Twitter, the company still plans about $800 million in payroll cuts by the end of 2023, or about one-quarter of its workforce, the Post reported. 

Twitter users would likely notice the effects of the job cuts immediately, Edwin Chen, a former Twitter data scientist who is now CEO of Surge AI, a content moderation startup, told the newspaper. 

Hacks and offensive content like child pornography would be more likely on the platform with a drastically reduced workforce, Chen reportedly said. 

Musk, Twitter Face Court Deadline: Musk initially proposed the take-private deal at $54.20 per share in April of this year before backing out in July, blaming a lack of information from Twitter on spam accounts.

That move triggered a lawsuit from Twitter filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery that seeks to force the deal to close.

With a deposition and trial date approaching, Musk renewed his original offer to buy Twitter on Oct. 4, and on Oct. 6, Judge Kathaleen McCormick issued a stay requested by Musk in the case, giving the two parties until 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28 to reach a deal. 

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