Docs: if Elon Musk buys Twitter, he plans to cut nearly 75% of staff; otherwise, Twitter aims to cut payroll by ~$800M by the end of 2023, ousting ~25% of staff

Previously unreported details shed new light on Twitter's motivations for selling the company — and Elon Musk's plans to transform it

Washington Post 2022-10-21

Context & Ripple Effects

Twitter had already cut 30% of its talent-acquisition team amid business pressure, while Musk had signaled during deal talks that he would prioritize the bottom line and consider job cuts. The documents put both parties’ cost agendas into sharper relief: Twitter’s own payroll target was far smaller than Musk’s proposed reduction.

Subsequent coverage tracked the proposal’s escalation from reports of cuts across sales, product, engineering, legal, and trust and safety to a roughly 3,700-person reduction. Twitter later sought to bring back dozens of people after some essential staff were cut or dismissed in error, underscoring the operational risk in reducing headcount at that speed.

First-order effects

Twitter employees face two distinct workforce-reduction paths: a roughly quarter-sized cut under the company plan or a far deeper reduction under a Musk acquisition.
Musk’s proposed cuts would immediately reshape the teams responsible for revenue, product development, engineering, legal, and trust and safety, areas identified in later reports of the planned layoffs.

Second-order effects

A smaller Twitter workforce limits the company’s ability to recruit, extending the earlier cut to its talent-acquisition team from a targeted reduction into a broader constraint on rebuilding capability.
The later recall of dozens of employees shows that rapid cuts can force Twitter to restore scarce operational and product expertise, weakening the cost savings from an indiscriminate reduction.

Third-order effects

The contrast between Twitter’s payroll plan and Musk’s far deeper proposal points to an ownership transition in which cost structure, rather than incremental hiring or product expansion, becomes the primary lever for remaking the company.
If this pattern persists, platform operators pursuing aggressive cost resets will need to distinguish genuinely duplicative roles from teams that maintain core services, revenue operations, and safety functions.

The trend: Twitter’s sale process is becoming a test of whether a major consumer platform can be remade through radical payroll cuts without impairing the capabilities needed to operate it.

Discussion

@faizsays Faiz Siddiqui on x
NEW: Elon Musk said he would cut nearly 75 percent of Twitter's staff if he takes control, far deeper cuts than the company's current leadership has proposed. The initial cuts would target lower performers, who scored less than a 3 on performance reviews. https://www.washingtonpo…
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Back of envelope suggests Twitter is actually worth somewhere between $7B and $20B today — a fraction of what Musk is paying for it. https://twitter.com/...
@jowens510 Jeremy C. Owens on x
Before you get all bent out of shape about Elon Musk telling some investors he would cut 75% of Twitter employees, remember that he also told bankers that he would actually increase $TWTR headcount this year. Musk says a lot of things, guys. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@mollyjongfast Molly Jong-Fast on x
“It would be a cascading effect,” he said, “where you'd have services going down and the people remaining not having the institutional knowledge to get them back up, and being completely demoralized and wanting to leave themselves.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@amandamarcotte Amanda Marcotte on x
My fear was that Musk would buy Twitter and the changes would be so gradual that people would hang in. But sounds like he may destroy it rapidly. https://twitter.com/...
@jflorez Joe Florez on x
So Elon wants to layoff 75% of @twitter staff, and only keep the top performers? Surprise, surprise, the top performers are going to jump ship long before he drags the company through chaos and make them work overtime trying to keep a dead ship afloat. https://techcrunch.com/...
@dcherring @dcherring on x
Read carefully: bigs cuts, followed by targeted rehiring. https://twitter.com/...
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
oh boy. Twitter employees have been bracing for layoffs but this would be much bigger than I imagine anyone expected https://twitter.com/...
@grummz @grummz on x
I will happily put up with Twitter not running well for 3-6 months while they trim 75% of staff (who, btw, are mostly middle mgt bloat and moderators). Bet we never even notice. Too many parasites. The terms are acceptable. https://twitter.com/...
@campuscodi Catalin Cimpanu on x
Meanwhile, literally 2/3 tweets on this platform are now political dis/misinformation or blatant sex/crypto spam This site hasn't got long, that's for sure. https://t.co/ZHiHgZOJkQ
@goldman Jason Goldman on x
With the TikTok news today, it's important to remember that threats to user safety and leaks of personal information don't even require nefarious intent. It can just be because you've fired everyone who knows how the protections work. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@elizabeth_joh Elizabeth Joh on x
*taps head* can't have content moderation without moderators https://twitter.com/...
@ustechworkers @ustechworkers on x
Get rid of the H-1B workers and those sourced through third party contracting firms @elonmusk https://twitter.com/...
@paulszoldra Paul Szoldra on x
man this is crazy... also really slimy of current Twitter management, passing the buck for this as they escape with their multi-million $ golden parachutes https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
Musk: the biggest problem on Twitter is spam. Also Musk: I'm going to fire basically everyone, especially those who are spending all their time preventing spam. I keep saying that it is *possible* that Musk can do something good for Twitter, but he has yet to show how. https://tw…
@tomcoates Tom Coates on x
When you gut a company down to 25% of its staff it doesn't matter if those 25% are high performers or not. They're going to look for other jobs. And when you try and backfill them all the people out there who know the company aren't going to come back. https://twitter.com/...
@matthewkeyslive Matthew Keys on x
Twitter's support can be hit or miss, depending on who you get. And their trust and safety policies are kind of a joke. But gutting Twitter's staff by up to 75 percent would do the opposite of solving Twitter's problems — it would make them substantially worse. https://twitter.co…
@klonick Kate Klonick on x
I'm sorry for the people I know & work with who spent years of their life trying to make Twitter a good product for the right reasons. But please know your talents and skills are hugely in demand right now and will be for a long time. https://twitter.com/...
@joyannreid @joyannreid on x
The future looks bright... or something... https://twitter.com/...
@nataliesurely Natalie Shure on x
well if this isn't a cue to unionize I don't know what is! https://twitter.com/...
@strngwys Roberto Baldwin on x
Well first he has to buy twitter which seems about as likely as the cybertruck coming to market at scale anytime soon. https://twitter.com/...
@tonx @tonx on x
Maybe when Twitter dies a horrible, unnecessary death (as seems increasingly likely) we can go back to blogs and RSS readers? That wouldn't be so bad. https://twitter.com/...
@qhardy Quentin Hardy on x
Another bang-up day at Twitter HR. https://twitter.com/...
@profcarroll David Carroll on x
Elon's Husk https://twitter.com/...
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
New: Internal memo from Twitter's @edgett sent around tonight says “no plans for any company-wide layoffs.” As for Musk's planned layoffs: “we do not have any confirmation of the buyer's plans following close.” He warned there will be “tons of public rumors and speculation”
@matt_levine Matt Levine on x
omg he's gonna pull it off https://twitter.com/...
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@NikLentz ... 💯🤣
@tulsigabbard Tulsi Gabbard on x
Biden Admin/Power Elite cooking up ways to destroy @ElonMusk because they can't control him—just like Trump. Expect them to use every law enforcement and regulatory body as weapons to bring Musk down or force him to surrender. Blatant authoritarianism. https://www.bloomberg.com/.…
@niklentz @niklentz on x
@JenniferJJacobs ... It would be hysterical if the government stopped Elon from over paying for Twitter 😂
@jenniferjjacobs Jennifer Jacobs on x
US officials uncomfortable over @elonmusk threat to stop supplying Starlink to Ukraine & what they see as Russia-friendly stances. Also looking at his plan to buy Twitter w group of foreign investors; CFIUS is one possible tool. Story by me & @SalehaMohsin https://www.bloomberg.c…
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
It's going to be quite epic if Biden stops Elon Musk from buying Twitter because he tweets like a Russian asset. That would truly be a 4D chess move to get out of the Twitter deal. https://twitter.com/...
@jenniferjjacobs Jennifer Jacobs on x
Elon Musk reacts to Biden officials' discussions, still at early stage, on what tools, if any, are available to let federal govt to review his ventures. “It would be hysterical if the government stopped Elon from over paying for Twitter 😂,” a reader tweeted. @elonmusk: “💯🤣.”
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Elon Musk has gotten a lot of benefits from the federal government, such as all those Tesla tax credits. But if Biden is his out for overpaying for Twitter... I really can't even process it. https://twitter.com/...
@rakeshlobster Rakesh Agrawal on x
It would be hilarious if this is how it ended. https://twitter.com/...
@tomgara Tom Gara on x
Funniest possible outcome, by far, is Elon getting out of the Twitter deal because his posts convince the most Twitter brained people in the Biden admin that he's a Russian asset https://twitter.com/...
@waywardwinifred Fred on x
nothing substantive in this which addresses the question that begs an answer: where is the rest of the money coming from? i am sure the biden administration and us regulators also want to know. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@lisaabramowicz1 Lisa Abramowicz on x
Twitter is its own beast, with the fog of Elon Musk around it, but the fact that the company reportedly planned to cut significant amounts of employees even before Musk got involved is telling. Big tech job cuts highlight the dramatic shift in fortune https://www.bloomberg.com/..…
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
remember though that our small brains cannot comprehend the 25 dimensional chess that is twitter's potential as x, the everything app https://twitter.com/...

Chronicles