Elon Musk is set to cut about 3,700 jobs at Twitter, representing about half of the company’s staff, according to Bloomberg News.
The push to slash costs comes about a week after the Tesla CEO took control of the social media company following completion of his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. Musk immediately fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, the company’s chief financial officer and top lawyer, while other members of the company’s leadership team have also left.
Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the reported job cuts.
Musk overpaid for Twitter by about $20 billion, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who told CBS MoneyWatch that he believed that would force the billionaire to cut between 30% to 50% of the company’s employees. In its most recent quarter, Twitter lost $270 million and its revenue slipped as advertising growth slowed.
“By overpaying for Twitter by roughly $20 billion, there is a lot of wood to chop for Musk to try to make back his money for himself as well as his investors,” Ives said.
Twitter will announce the job cuts to employees on Friday, Bloomberg reported. The news service also said Musk plans to reverse the company’s current policy of allowing them to work from the location of their choice, noting that most employees will be asked to report to offices.
