Twitter begins layoffs, cuts to affect 50% of staff
Twitter began layoffs on Friday that will cut roughly half of its 7,500-person workforce, the company announced in an email.
“Today is your last working day at the company,” the email said, which ABC News has reviewed. The subject line read “Your Role at Twitter” and was sent to the personal email addresses of those laid off.
The email reiterated that about 50% of the workforce at Twitter has been impacted.
Those laid off will remain employed by Twitter and receive compensation and benefits until the first week of January 2023, though the date may vary for employees. Affected employees were already locked out of their Twitter systems, such as email and Slack.
These employees should receive their non-negotiable severance offer within the week, the email said. At that time, they will be required to hand in their badges and company laptops or computers.
Documents attached to the email include a Q&A which again states that severances could not be individually negotiated. The severance package will include one-month base pay.
"In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday," the company previously wrote in an email sent to employees on Thursday and obtained by ABC News.
"We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward," the email continued.
The Washington Post was first to report the email to employees.
Employees were told, via the company email Thursday, they would receive a notification to their Twitter email if their employment was not impacted. If they were, a notification would be sent to their personal email with next steps.
In the company email, Twitter said its offices are temporarily closed and "all badge access will be suspended."
"We acknowledge this is an incredibly challenging experience to go through, whether or not you are impacted," the company.
Three now-former Twitter employees told ABC News they received an email confirming the layoff on Thursday night. They said they were immediately locked out of all their work-related accounts and email and no longer have access to them.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk closed the deal to acquire Twitter last week.
Musk -- the richest person in the world, according to Forbes -- reportedly acquired Twitter at his original offer price of $54.20 a share at a total cost of roughly $44 billion.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed Musk's Twitter deal closure to ABC News on Oct. 28. Some of Twitter's top executives were fired, including CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and general counsel Sam Edgett, and the company will likely be launching an internal investigation, according to the source.
Musk had said last week that he will forgo any significant content moderation or account reinstatement decisions until after the formation of a new committee devoted to the issues.
"Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints," Musk tweeted. "No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes."
ABC News' Taylor Dunn, Max Zahn, Santina Leuci and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
