Musk slashes Twitter down to about 1,000 employees: report
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has said job cuts were necessary to keep company afloat
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There are now reportedly just 1,000 full-time employees at Twitter.
Two people familiar with the company told Business Insider that the headcount is "much lower" than the 1,500 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 1,000 means Twitter's workforce is down by nearly 90% from just before Musk took over earlier this year.
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Low-angle view of sign with logo on the facade of the headquarters of social network Twitter in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco on Oct. 13, 2017. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Hundreds of workers had left before layoffs, and Business Insider said there are 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.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk speaks at the "Twitter 2.0: From Conversations to Partnerships" marketing conference in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 18, 2023. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"The issue is like the company's going to go bankrupt if we do not cut costs immediately," 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.
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That interview also came ahead of a New York Times report that 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 monetizable daily active users grew by 16.6% in 2022 to nearly 238 million users.
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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 Musk, has since spoken out about the direction of Twitter and Musk's leadership.
Twitter creator Jack Dorsey arrives on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention in Miami on June 4, 2021. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images / Getty Images)
He took to competitor Bluesky over the weekend, per The Financial Times, saying 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.
Dorsey sits on the Bluesky board, and the paper noted Bluesky was initially funded by Twitter.
Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to Fox Business Digital's request for comment.