Musk has previously said that he would lay off employees if he were to buy the micro-blogging site.
According to a new report from the Washington Post, Musk is going to purge 75% of the workforce from the company. If Musk's vision for a much leaner platform comes to fruition, it will force the company to operate with a small staff.
Between broader economic factors and ongoing criticisms that Twitter has failed to deliver on its promise, the company was always going to downsize. Most people wanted to cut the staff in half. The Post pointed out that leaving a quarter of the workforce is not the same as cutting 25% of the workforce.
There is a grain of salt needed here. There is a gulf between Musk's words and the reality of the situation. It is possible that if Musk wanted to lay off 75% of the workforce, he wouldn't be able to run the company.
Some serious issues the company faces, some of which could only be solved by more investment, are not understood by Musk. Some of the dire security and safety needs that Peiter Zatko brought up wouldn't be resolved by the entire company being gutted. Content moderation is one of the areas that benefits from having more humans involved, and Musk barely has a grasp of it. If Musk has his way, trust and safety will likely be cut.
It is possible that the 75% number is just another trick he pulled out of his hat to impress whoever he was talking to, perhaps bankers he was courting for the acquisition or the various slavering rich men he texts with. We hope that ends up being the case for the sake of the current employees.
The deal is expected to close by the end of October.
Elon Musk proposes to follow through on Twitter deal
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