Elon Musk has fired almost everyone at Twitter, report states

Elon Musk’s firing spree at Twitter means that almost 90 per cent of staff have left since he took over control of the social media company.

Elon Musk has sacked much of the staff at Twitter in a bid to save costs. Picture: AFP

There are now reportedly just 1000 full-time employees at Twitter.

Two people familiar with the company told Business Insider that the headcount is “much lower” than the 1500 employees CEO Elon Musk had told BBC News remained on staff, particularly when excluding remaining contract workers.

The billionaire did not specify whether his total included such employees.

The outlet said getting closer to 1000 means Twitter’s workforce is down by nearly 90 per cent from just before Mr Musk took over earlier this year, Fox News reports.

The workforce at Twitter is down by about 90 per cent, according to a report. Picture: AFP

Hundreds of workers had left before lay-offs, and Business Insider said there were now about 500 engineers left at the company.

A former employee told the outlet that “performance reviews are constant,” with those who remain scrambling to meet changing demands and putting out fires.

People familiar with the matter also said frequent firings follow weekly employee reviews with little to no explanation given.

“The issue is like the company’s going to go bankrupt if we do not cut costs immediately,” Mr Musk told BBC News in April.

“This is not a caring, uncaring situation. It’s like if the whole ship sinks then nobody’s got a job,” he said.

Elon Musk has sacked much of the staff at Twitter in a bid to save costs. Picture: AFP

That interview also came ahead of a New York Times report that Mr Musk cut parental leave from 20 weeks to just two.

Twitter had around 400 employees in 2011, but the social media platform has more than double the daily active users now, according to Hootsuite.

The social media tool said monetisable daily active users grew by 16.6 per cent in 2022 to nearly 238 million users.

Mr Musk, last year, said he was hoping to accrue a billion Twitter users or beyond over time, according to the Times.

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who had said he trusted Mr Musk, has since spoken out about the direction of Twitter and Mr Musk’s leadership.

He took to competitor Bluesky over the weekend, per the Financial Times, saying Mr Musk has not “acted right” since the takeover — although he has admitted he grew the company size too quickly and that Twitter could not have survived as a public company.

Mr Dorsey sits on the Bluesky board, and the paper noted Bluesky was initially funded by Twitter.

Mr Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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