Elon Musk begins Twitter takeover with plan to cut 25 percent of staff

Days after the completion of his Twitter acquisition, billionaire businessman Elon Musk has already begun to implement his takeover strategy, which reportedly includes the plan to fire a quarter of the platform’s employees.

The announcement follows a report by CNBC on October 27 where sources for the publication said Twitter’s chief executive officer Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal had been fired.

It was later revealed that Musk had also dissolved the social media company’s board of directors, as the Tesla owner looked to continue cementing his control.

Musk is also said to be planning to let go of 25 percent of Twitter’s workforce in what could potentially be a first round of layoffs, according to the Washington Post.

The businessman completed his 44 billion dollar acquisition of Twitter on October 28 under the promise of building a “digital town square” where a “wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner”, he said in a post on the site.

In the statement, which was directed towards advertisers on the platform, Musk added that he wanted users to be able to choose their desired experience according to their preferences, while “adhering to the laws of the land”.