In a bid to massively cut down costs, Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk has perfected a plan to lay off 3,700 Twitter staff. This represents more than 50 percent of the entire 7,500 workforce of the social media platform.
Multiple sources including Bloomberg confirmed that Musk will be meeting with the affected staff on Friday.
Investors King could recall that Elon Musk had earlier denied a report that he plans to cut 75 percent of the company’s workforce. A report by Washington Post had stated that Musk informed potential Twitter investors in early October that he plans to lay off nearly three fourth of Twitter staff.
The recent layoff report isn’t however totally unexpected as Elon Musk emphasised the need to “rationalised headcount ” in a question and answer session with Twitter employees in June 2022.
While calming nerves and signifying his intention to retrench only staff with no critical engagement with the company, he stated that “Anyone who is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about”.
Nonetheless, the report noted that there is a possibility that laid-off employees may get some compensation.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk has announced an increase in the monthly payment for Twitter verification checkmate from $4.99 to $8.
Investors King had reported that the new price will come with added privileges which include posting longer video.
While the hike in price has received a lot of backlash from several users, the new Twitter owner who also doubles as Tesla CEO reaffirmed the new price in a series of tweets.
A Twitter user who is also an elected representative in the United States, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote, “…a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually a $8/mo subscription plan.”
In response, Elon Musk tweeted “Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8”. He thereafter pinned the tweet on his profile to showcase his strong stance on the price hike.
