Twitter's Elon Musk Reportedly Laying Off 50% of Workforce

According to new reporting from Bloomberg, Elon Musk is planning to lay off 3,700 Twitter employees this week, which makes up about 50% of the company's staff. As of this writing, Musk has not responded to the reporting, but an announcement is expected to be made by Friday. In addition to the announcement, Musk is expected to bring an end to a permanent work-from-home policy that Twitter put in place back in May of 2020. While there could be a "few exceptions," the majority of the remaining employees will be expected to work from the company's offices.

Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter was completed last week. It didn't take long for the billionaire to begin making controversial changes at the company, including a major change to Twitter's verification process. Twitter currently offers a verification checkmark to prove that someone is who they say they are; this has helped prevent users from impersonating celebrities, journalists, or other public figures. However, checkmarks will soon be given to only those willing to pay for them. Musk initially pushed a $20/month price, then seemed to drop the figure to $8 after Stephen King publicly denounced the move. Musk has received massive pushback from Twitter users over the policy change, especially since it will make it easier for Twitter users to impersonate others. However, the billionaire has laughed off those concerns, comparing the price to the cost of a drink from Starbucks.

Sources for Bloomberg say that the layoffs are an attempt by Musk to recoup some of the cost of the company. Musk publicly tried to get out of the offer he made to purchase Twitter, but the company was able to successfully force him to complete the transaction. It's unclear whether the purchase was made on impulse, but now he owns the social network and the results haven't been pretty for employees or users. A lot of people use Twitter for work, and Musk's impulse purchase has already had huge ramifications for a lot of people's livelihoods. Unfortunately, it seems that things are going to get a lot worse at the company before they get better.

Are you disappointed by Elon Musk's changes to Twitter? Are you surprised that the billionaire is cutting so many jobs? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

[H/T: Variety]

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