Musk Gutting Twitter Would Be a Threat to Us All
Slashing staff at the public town square belies the notion that its prospective new owner wants to make it better and healthier.
With Elon Musk on the verge of taking over Twitter Inc. comes news that he plans to gut its workforce, with cuts of up to 75%. That should be a worry not only to the platform’s staff and users, but for those who care about the flow of information crucial to well-functioning democracies.
Musk, who is also the chief executive officer of carmaker Tesla Inc. and space transport company Space Exploration Technologies Corp., plans to whittle Twitter down from 7,500 staff to just over 2,000, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing documents and people familiar with the plans. While the 51-year-old had tried to back out of deal, the transaction looks like it will actually proceed with a court-issued deadline of Oct. 28.