Elon Musk Might Fire 75% Twitter Staff Post Acquisition: Addressing Ideological Imbalance?

If Elon Musk acquires Twitter, the majority of the micro-blogging network's employees could get sacked. Musk is apparently contemplating firing 75% of Twitter's employees. Although downsizing a new acquisition is a routine practice for acquiring companies, Musk may have a few reasons to fire the bulk of Twitter's 7,500 employees. He might be considering changing Twitter's approach toward free speech.

Downsizing Twitter Was Already On The Cards

Elon Musk hasn't acquired Twitter. However, he has a deadline to close the deal by October 24. As part of preparations for the acquisition, Twitter has already frozen its employees' equity awards. There's no official confirmation yet, but both parties seem to be moving forward "in good faith".

Musk may have been discussing financing the deal, and indicated he wants to fire the bulk of Twitter's 7,500 employees. If true, Twitter will be left with just 1,875 employees to manage the platform.

Even before Musk's alleged thoughts leaked, Twitter's management was already planning to lay off as much as 25% of the company. The business intended to cut costs and, apparently, become a leaner operation.

Why Is Musk Contemplating To Downsize Twitter

Musk has previously implied he was overpaying for Twitter. The Tesla CEO also hinted he wants to double revenue in three years. Downsizing would obviously cut costs and boost revenue.

In addition to "trimming the fat", Musk could be contemplating bringing about a fundamental change in the way Twitter perceives and protects free speech. Several employees of the platform are strongly believed to be against upholding the spirit of free speech.

Twitter has censored and even banned several people from using the platform. Hence, Musk might be considering uprooting the prevalent culture and replacing it with one that strongly defends and upholds free speech.

If Musk ends up firing 75% of Twitter's workforce, it would be interesting to see how the platform functions. Any efficiently run company would obviously face a lot of problems from multiple fronts under such conditions.

The most serious considerations and immediate challenges would be security and threat management. Twitter might not be able to handle the platform's health and could be overwhelmed with spam. Attackers might take advantage of reduced staff to go after Twitter in large numbers.