Twitter to make staff cuts around the world after Elon Musk £39bn takeover of platform

Twitter has begun cutting jobs around the world in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover and his major shake-up of the platform.

There have been suggestions that as many as half of the social media giant’s global workforce could be cut as part of cost-saving measures.

Twitter employs more than 7,500 people around the world and many staff have already taken to the social media site to confirm they have been dismissed.

Musk is thought to want to drastically reduce costs at the company after completing his $44bn (£39bn) takeover of the platform last week and has since tweeted “we need to pay the bills somehow” in relation to further plans to begin charging a monthly subscription for users to keep their verified blue tick badge.

According to an internal email reportedly sent to staff, the job cuts are “an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path” and action is “unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward”.

Staff have been told that everyone will receive an email by 9am PST (4pm GMT) on Friday, with those who are affected by the cuts set to receive the message on their personal email address rather than the one associated with their work.

“Given the nature of our distributed workforce and our desire to inform impacted individuals as quickly as possible, communications for this process will take place via email,” the internal email said.

The message said Twitter’s offices around the world would be “temporarily closed” and that staff badge access “will be suspended”.

“If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home,” the email said.

Despite the message asking staff to not discuss the cuts on social media, a number of workers have already taken to Twitter to confirm they are leaving the company, with some revealing they have been logged out of their work laptops and internal messaging systems.

Others are using the platform to say goodbye and thank their colleagues.

Musk has promised to make sweeping changes at the company and has already removed the entire board, leaving himself as the sole executive, and pledged to change how the site handles content moderation.

He has also suggested allowing banned accounts, including that of former US president Donald Trump, back on to the site.

However, this has raised concerns among many users and advertisers, with reports suggesting that some businesses will suspend advertising with Twitter if accounts such as Trump’s are allowed to return.

Advertising revenue makes up the vast majority of Twitter’s earnings, which is why some analysts believe Musk is looking to introduce more subscription offerings as a way of generating new income.

Before completing his takeover, the billionaire said in a message to advertisers that he would not allow the platform to become a “free-for-all hellscape” despite previously describing himself as a “free speech absolutist”.

His plans to overhaul the Twitter Blue subscription service so that it gives users the blue tick verification badge in exchange for a monthly fee is also reportedly set to be introduced later this month.