Elon Musk has continued the blood-letting after completing his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) last week, having dissolved the social media firm's board of directors and leaving himself in sole control.
The billionaire plans to let go of a quarter of the firm's workforce as part of what is expected to be a first round of layoffs, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Celebrity lawyer Alex Spiro, a long-time Musk legal representative, led the conversations about the job cuts, according to the report.
Twitter had over 7,000 employees at the end of 2021, according to a regulatory filing, and a quarter of the headcount amounts to nearly 2,000 employees.
READ: Elon Musk denies report of Twitter job cuts to avoid payouts
Musk had earlier denied a New York Times report about laying off Twitter employees at a date earlier than November 1 to avoid stock grants due on the day.
On day one of his acquisition completion, Musk fired Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal, its finance chief Ned Segal and Legal Affairs and Policy chief Vijaya Gadde, sources told Reuters.
Meanwhile, a report said Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has rolled his entire stake of 18 million shares in the company, worth almost $978 million at the Musk buyout price of $54.20, into the new private company, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.
Dorsey, who left Twitter's board in May, supported Musk's purchase of the firm.
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