As Elon Musk tightens his grip on Twitter since his extravagant $44 billion takeover was finally pushed through, heightened attention is being placed on his plans for the social media site. Behind the scenes though, Twitter employees are also worrying about their jobs.
initially, it was thought that the new CEO planned to cut 75 percent of the company's staff. The Washington Post is now reporting that the share of workers up for the axe is now 25 percent (at least in the first round of dismissals). As this infographic using figures from SEC filings shows, with "over 7,500 employees" at the end of 2021, that would equate to at least 1,875 job losses.
As this chart also illustrates though, Twitter operated with significantly less employees for a number of years, before the headcount began ramping up around 2018, with a large jump in 2021. The 25 percent cut, if proven accurate, would bring staff levels down to around 5,600 - roughly the amount the company was operating with in 2020, and apparently a size which Musk deems appropriate for the future, too.
