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Twitter Inc. is drafting plans for broad layoffs, according to people familiar with the matter, days after the social-media platform was taken private by billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion.
The proposed layoffs are expected to reduce engineering positions as well as affect other areas at the company, one of the people said. Twitter has roughly 7,500 employees, according to a disclosure earlier this year. The full scale of cuts being discussed couldn’t be determined.
Earlier this year, Twitter said it was looking for ways to cut costs because of the macroeconomic environment, adding that it had significantly slowed hiring in the second quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in July. Social-media companies have grappled with market disruptions that have weighed on digital-ad spending this year, including soaring inflation, recession fears and the war in Ukraine.
Several employees have said they are worried that Musk could move to cut jobs before Nov. 1, which is a vesting date for Twitter’s compensation program. Employees’ grants were expected to be paid as cash after Musk’s acquisition, according to people familiar with the issue. A number of employees have said they are concerned Musk could try to avoid making those payments if their employment is terminated before Nov. 1.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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