Elon Musk orders job cuts across Twitter

New York: Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has planned to begin laying off employees at the social media giant, according to media reports, days after he completed the $44-billion acquisition of the company.

The New York Times reported that Musk "planned to begin laying off workers" at Twitter as soon as on Saturday. Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the report said that some managers were being asked to "draw up lists of employees to cut."

Ahead of Musk's acquisition of Twitter, reports were circulating that he will cut headcount, with some reports saying 75 per cent of the workforce at the company could be laid off.

"Musk, who completed a USD 44-billion deal to buy Twitter on Thursday, has ordered the cuts across the company, with some teams to be trimmed more than others," the NYT report said, adding that the "scale of the layoffs could not be determined" at the company, which has around 7,500 employees.

The NYT report said that the layoffs at Twitter "would take place before" the November 1 date when "employees were scheduled to receive stock grants as part of their compensation.