All staff are set to receive an email with the subject "Your Role at Twitter" by 09:00 Pacific time on Friday (5 am NZT Saturday). Photo: AFP
Twitter has told its seven and a half thousand employees they will hear shortly whether they still have a job, following the firm's takeover by Elon Musk.
An internal email sent to staff warned the social media giant will go through the "difficult process of reducing its global workforce".
The company said the cuts are "an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path".
Twitter offices would be temporarily closed and badge access would be suspended, the email said.
The multi-billionaire will be Twitter's chief executive after buying the firm last week in a $44billion (NZ$75b) deal.
"We will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday," Twitter said in the email.
"We recognise 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," it added.
The company said office access would be immediately limited "to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data".
All staff are set to receive an email with the subject "Your Role at Twitter" by 09:00 Pacific time on Friday (5 am NZT Saturday).
Workers who are not affected will be notified through their company email, according to Twitter.
Meanwhile, those who are affected will be told of the news and "next steps" through their personal accounts.
"Given the nature of our distributed workforce and our desire to inform impacted individuals as quickly as possible, communications for this process will take place via email," Twitter said.
Reports in US media had previously suggested that Musk was looking to cut 3,700 jobs, about half of Twitter's workforce.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, suggested some senior staff were asked to make lists of employees to be cut on their teams.
Cryptocurrency platform Binance invested in Twitter as part of Musk's takeover. Earlier, its chief executive Changpeng Zhao said that "a slimmer workforce would make more sense".
Zhao who was speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon, also criticised the platform for having been slow to roll out new features, given its level of staffing.
Musk has tweeted: "We need to pay the bills somehow." Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP
Pay to verify
The cost-cutting follows criticism of Twitter's efforts to raise money by proposing to charge $8 (NZ$14) a month for a "verified" blue check-mark.
In addition to the verification badge, those who pay could have their tweets promoted more widely and see fewer adverts.
Musk has tweeted of his plan: "We need to pay the bills somehow."
Twitter has not made a profit in several years and its number of users has remained fairly static at about 300 million a month.
Many experts suggest that Musk, the world's richest man, overpaid for the company, given current economic conditions and the depressed values of many tech stocks.
But Twitter former head of global communications Brandon Borrman, in a BBC interview, questioned how Twitter could justify asking people to pay in order to remain on an "equal playing field" with other users.
It is not clear how the staff cuts will affect the platform's operations. US reports already speak of long hours spent by some staff to meet Musk's demands in the aftermath of the takeover.
In May, Musk said his work ethic expectations would be "extreme", but less than he demanded of himself.
Board axed
As part of the takeover agreement, nine members of Twitter's board departed the company, leaving self-styled "Chief Twit" Musk as the sole director.
The move was seen as cementing Musk's control over the company.
Among those leaving were chairman Bret Taylor and chief executive Parag Agrawal.
Other senior figures have also posted about leaving, or are reported to have left, including chief financial officer Ned Segal.
As senior figures left, US media reported that a number of Musk's allies joined Twitter.
- BBC / RNZ