Twitter set to lay off nearly three-quarters of its staff in 2023 when Elon Musk takes over

Social media company, Twitter, could carry out massive layoffs especially if billionaire Elon Musk completes his $44 billion purchase of the company.

While pitching his deal to buy Twitter to investors, Musk said he planned to get rid of nearly three-quarters of the firm’s workers, lopping its ranks to just over 2,000 employees, according to a Thursday night, October 21 Washington Post report.

If Musk’s deal to buy Twitter fails, a plan by the company to cut about $800 million from its payroll by the end of next year would lead to letting go of about a quarter of its workers, the paper said.

Staff cuts at Twitter would likely hamper the platform’s ability to moderate abusive posts or keep data secure, according to the Post, which cited interviews and documents.

After Twitter filed a lawsuit to hold Musk to the terms of the takeover deal he inked in April, Musk expressed a change of heart, giving the parties until October 28 to finalize the deal.

“I’m excited about the Twitter situation,” Musk said while fielding questions on a Tesla quarterly earnings call this week.

“I think it’s an asset that has just sort of languished for a long time but has incredible potential, although obviously myself and the other investors are overpaying for Twitter right now.”