Elon Musk Denies Report That Twitter's Headcount Is 1,300: Here's What He Says Is Correct Number

Twitter laid off thousands of workers in November 2022 in departments across the company, a move justified by its CEO Elon Musk. 

Then in January, the company laid off employees responsible for global content moderation and those in the hate speech and harassment units. 

On Friday, CNBC reported that the social media platform had shed about 80% of its employees since Musk took over. The headcount hovers at around 1,300 employees, including fewer than 550 full-time engineers.

About 75 of the company's 1,300 employees are on leave, including about 40 engineers, according to CNBC.

Musk went on Twitter and quashed the media report, saying Twitter has about 2,300 active employees. 

The note is incorrect. There are ~2300 active, working employees at Twitter.

There are still hundreds of employees working on trust & safety, along with several thousand contractors.

Less than 10 people from my other companies are working at Twitter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2023

Last week, Insider reported that the company has plans to terminate 50 workers in its product division.

Also Read: Zuckerberg Says He Was More Thoughtful About Meta Layoffs Than Musk’s Job Cuts At Twitter

Twitter employees have reportedly said that the company has plans to close many international offices and smaller offices within the U.S.

The company explained the culling of contractors as a part of a "reprioritization and savings exercise."

Twitter has been bleeding advertisers since Musk took over, with several high-profile companies pausing promotions on the platform. 

Twitter posted a net loss of $270 million in the second quarter that ended June 30, 2022, compared to a profit of $66 million in the same period the prior year. 

Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion and is under pressure to cut costs after making a deal in which he overpaid, according to some analysts.

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