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In the latest development, Elon Musk reportedly plans to cut some 3,700 jobs at Twitter, or about half of the social media company’s workforce, sources with knowledge of the matter revealed, according to Bloomberg.

Twitter’s new billionaire owner aims to inform affected staffers on Friday, Oct. 4, it was also reported.

The deep cuts come as Musk is trying to drive down costs following his US$44 billion (S$62 billion) acquisition, although the total number of staffers to be axed could still change.

No more work-from-anywhere

Musk also reportedly intends to reverse the San Francisco-based company’s existing work-from-anywhere policy.

Employees who survive the cut are to report to offices, with some exceptions made, the sources added.

Sources said Musk and a team of advisers have been weighing a range of scenarios for job cuts and other policy changes.

Laid-off workers are to be offered 60 days’ worth of severance pay in one of the scenarios.

Cuts made over the first weekend of acquisition

Over the weekend, a few employees with director and vice-president jobs were cut, it was also reported.

Other leaders were asked to make lists of employees on their teams who could be cut, the sources said.

Twitter chief accounting officer Robert Kaiden left the company after the layoffs were sorted.

He is one of the last pre-Musk top executives to depart.

Musk initially said he would take on the role of interim CEO himself.

He has dissolved the company’s board and became sole director, but said later that it is “just temporary”.

Tesla staff in Twitter

Senior personnel on the product teams were asked to target a 50 per cent reduction in headcount, a source said.

The vetting of the lists involved Tesla employees.

Engineers and director-level staff from Tesla, the car maker also run by Musk, apparently reviewed the lists.

Layoff lists were drawn up and ranked based on individuals’ contributions to Twitter’s code during their time at the company, the sources said.

The assessment was made by both Tesla personnel and Twitter managers.

Musk had earlier denied that he was cutting 75 per cent of the Twitter workforce.

Staffing priorities

Musk started hinting at his staffing priorities in recent weeks.

He said he wants to focus on the core product.

He tweeted in early October: “Software engineering, server operations & design will rule the roost.”

To generate more revenue, Twitter under Musk will soon start charging for verification.

Verification badges will be available for a US$8-a-month subscription that could go live as early as Nov. 7.

Users who already have a blue verification badge will have a multi-month grace period before they will either need to pay for the badge or lose it, it was also reported.

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