Elon Musk Says "No Choice When..." as Twitter Sacks "Roughly 50%" Staff

On Friday, Twitter laid off half of its 7,500-person workforce as the company's troubled big restructuring under new owner Elon Musk got under way, only one week after his sensational takeover.

 According to an internal memo seen by AFP, "approximately 50%" of the workforce was affected and would immediately lose access to business computers and email.

 After being told to leave, employees all over the world used Twitter to express their anger or shock and bid farewell to one of Silicon Valley's most recognisable enterprises.

 "I discovered when I woke up that my employment with Twitter had ended. I'm devastated. I am denying that "Twitter's director of public policy for the United States and Canada, Michele Austin, said.

 After waiting 24 hours since the business's initial email informing staff of impending layoffs, Musk tweeted Friday evening, "Regarding Twitter's reduction in force, regrettably there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day."

 Prior to the layoffs, Twitter restricted access to all of its locations and asked staff to remain at home while awaiting an email informing them of their destiny.

 "It is quite cruel to treat individuals in this manner. They appear to be making a mercenary effort and are doing everything they can to save money "a fired employee who requested anonymity in his remarks.

 The cull is a part of Musk's effort to acquire financing for the massive $44 billion acquisition, for which he sold $15.5 billion worth of Tesla stock and took on billions of dollars in debt.

 According to company sources, Musk's teams were forcing a rapid pace on the remaining staff members and using Tesla coders to supervise the work of "Tweeps," as employees at Twitter are known internally.

 Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is rumoured to owe $1 billion in interest payments alone for a deal he attempted to back out of nearly immediately after he signed it in April.

 The actions would help Twitter combat the possibility of losing advertisers, which are the company's primary source of income, since many of the major businesses in the world postpone their ad purchases after learning of Musk's well-known contempt for content controls.