Twitter will lay off staff Friday, the social media giant said in an email obtained by NBC News.
In the email, sent Thursday evening, Twitter said it would notify staff by email starting Friday morning about their employment.
“We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward,” the email said.
The cuts come after numerous reports that Musk had planned to slash the company’s 7,500-person payroll after he finalized his $44 billion acquisition late last week. He immediately dismissed CEO Parag Agrawal, as well as Twitter’s CFO and its head of legal, public policy and trust and safety upon taking over the company.
One Twitter employee said Thursday’s email was the first communication staff had received from Twitter since the acquisition Oct. 27.
“It’s total chaos, house melting down, everyone looking towards this email,” the employee told NBC News.
According to the email from Twitter, staff members will get a notice either through their company email — if they still have a job — or their personal email if their “employment is impacted.”
The company said that the staffing reduction is being done in “an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path.”
Worries about layoffs began to emerge before the buyout transaction was complete, but Twitter’s general counsel urged employees not to dwell on rumors before Musk took ownership of the company.
Some Twitter employees have expressed a desire to get laid off and receive severance, and some are concerned that disagreeing with Musk could mean losing both their jobs and the exit package.
“At the end of this nightmare, I better get a cash prize,” one Twitter employee told NBC News.
Meanwhile, Musk has sought to reassure advertisers, saying in a post that the platform would not become a “free-for-all hellscape.” He also told the European Union that he planned to comply with the region’s Digital Services Act, which levies penalties on companies if they do not control illegal content, Reuters reported Monday.
Musk has also promised to loosen rules about what kind of speech is allowed on the platform, prompting concerns that the changes could drive away users and advertisers. General Motors announced it would temporarily suspend its advertising on the platform.
He has also said he plans to form a content-moderation council that would include “widely diverse viewpoints,” though no changes have been made so far.
Reports suggested that hate speech surged in the opening days of Musk’s ownership of the site. Musk himself posted a link to a baseless, anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory Sunday regarding the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Musk later deleted the tweet.
That was among nearly two dozen tweets Musk posted to the site last weekend, though few offered additional clarity on what the site will look like under his leadership.
Jason Abbruzzese contributed.