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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk plans to lay off most of Twitter’s workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report Thursday by The Washington Post.Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75% of Twitter’s employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to the report. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.San Francisco-based Twitter and a representative for Musk attorney Alex Spiro did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.While job cuts have been expected regardless of the sale, the magnitude of Musk’s planned cuts are far more extreme than anything Twitter had planned. Musk himself has alluded to the need to cull some of the company’s staff in the past, but he hadn’t given a specific number — at least not publicly.“A 75% headcount cut would indicate, at least out of the gates, stronger free cash flow and profitability, which would be attractive to investors looking to get in on the deal,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “That said, you can’t cut your way to growth.”Did Elon Musk Buy Twitter?Ives added that such a drastic reduction…

Elon Musk’s antics have made it hard for his banks — Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays — to sell the debt required to do the Twitter deal. So they’re just going to hold it, all $13 billion of it, The Wall Street Journal reports. Truly a next-level “hold-my-beer” move, because it threatens to bring leveraged buyouts to a halt.Typically, a bank sells the debt used to create a buyout, and moves on to the next deal. But since they’re holding Musk’s beers, they don’t have a free hand to hold anyone else’s. Or, as The WSJ puts it, “The Twitter move threatens to bring the faltering leveraged-buyout pipeline to a standstill by tying up capital that Wall Street could otherwise use to back new deals.”Part of the reason for holding Musk’s debt is because the appetite for it has decreased due to (waves vaguely at the Fed) financial conditions. But part of it is Musk’s mercurial approach to the deal:Mr. Musk and Twitter have until Oct. 28 to close his planned purchase, and there is still no guarantee the unpredictable billionaire will follow through or some other trouble won’t arise. (If the deal doesn’t close by that time,…

Twitter is gearing up for layoffs no matter whether Elon Musk purchases the company, which could happen as soon as this Friday, according to a report from The Washington Post. On one hand, Musk has told prospective investors that he plans to axe 75 percent of the Twitter's 7,500-member staff upon completion of the deal, a move that would likely cripple the site's operations and kneecap its ability to moderate content and ensure users' security. On the other hand, internal documents obtained by The Post reveal that, prior to the Musk deal, current company leadership planned to "pare the company's payroll" by around $800 million, a relatively modest 25 percent reduction in the workforce that would only see around 1,900 people left unemployed, along with "major" infrastructure cuts and data center closures. Musk's cuts would be "unimaginable" Edwin Chen, a data scientist formerly in charge of Twitter’s spam and health metrics, told The Post. “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.” When asked about potential layoffs at a Twitter Town…

With an Oct. 28 deadline for Elon Musk to close a $44-billion buyout of Twitter Inc TWTR approaching, a new report says he plans to layoff almost 75% of the social media platform's staff once he takes over the C-suite. What Happened: The world's richest man has told prospective investors in the deal that he would take Twitter's staffing from 7,000 to 2,000 employees, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing documents and interviews obtained by the newspaper. Even if Musk does not purchase Twitter, the company still plans about $800 million in payroll cuts by the end of 2023, or about one-quarter of its workforce, the Post reported. Twitter users would likely notice the effects of the job cuts immediately, Edwin Chen, a former Twitter data scientist who is now CEO of Surge AI, a content moderation startup, told the newspaper. Hacks and offensive content like child pornography would be more likely on the platform with a drastically reduced workforce, Chen reportedly said. Musk, Twitter Face Court Deadline: Musk initially proposed the take-private deal at $54.20 per share in April of this year before backing out in July, blaming a lack of information from Twitter on spam accounts.That move triggered a lawsuit from Twitter filed in the Delaware Court…

Tesla reported third-quarter earnings after the bell, and executives addressed a broad range of questions during the earnings call, including macroeconomic concerns and CEO Elon Musk's pending takeover of Twitter.Shares fell by about 5% after hours following the results.Here are the results.Earnings: $1.05 vs 99 cents per share (adjusted) expected, based on analysts polled by RefinitivRevenue: $21.45 billion vs $21.96 billion expected, per Refinitiv.Tesla's net income (GAAP) for Q3 2022 reached $3.33 billion, with automotive gross margins holding steady at 27.9%, exactly where it stood in the second quarter of 2022. During the same period last year, Tesla reported $1.62 billion in profits.On an earnings call on Wednesday to discuss the results, Musk answered shareholder questions about electric vehicle demand and a possible share buyback."I can't emphasize enough we have excellent demand for Q4 and we expect to sell every car that we make for as far into the future as we can see," Musk said. "The factories are running at full speed and we're delivering every car we make, and keeping operating margins strong."Tesla is likely to do a "meaningful buyback" next year, he added, potentially between $5 billion and $10 billion pending board approval.He also said, optimistically, "I'm of the…

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct 19 (Reuters) - Elon Musk on Wednesday said he was excited about his pending acquisition of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), although he and other investors were overpaying for the social media company.Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, was answering a question during a call after the electric vehicle maker's quarterly report. The world's richest person is pursuing the Twitter purchase after earlier trying to back out of the $44 billion deal.Musk described Twitter as an asset that had "languished" for a long time. "Myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for Twitter right now. The long term potential for Twitter in my view is an order of magnitude greater than its current value," he said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comIn the same conference call Musk also spoke optimistically about Tesla. Tesla, with a market cap now under $700 billion, could be worth more than the combined value of Apple Inc's $2.3 trillion and oil producer Saudi Aramco's $2.1 trillion, he said.Musk has been trying to raise cash to fund the Twitter purchase, and some experts say he may need to sell about $3 billion more in stock after the Tesla quarterly report to do so.A…

Tim Allen complained about the “woke” mindset on Twitter — only to subsequently get attacked by “wokees,” as he called them. The 69-year-old actor tweeted Monday: “Who is the face of the woke. Do wokees have a club house in someone’s backyard or maybe a cute yet safe playpen somewhere?” This isn’t the first time the “Home Improvement” actor has caused a stir on Twitter. Last month, Allen tried to make a joke after President Joe Biden’s appearance on “60 Minutes.” “Biden was on 60 minutes. I heard he asked how long the show was,” he tweeted at the time. Just like last time, Twitter users are pushing back on Allen’s latest comments. Tim Allen complained about the “woke” mindset on Twitter.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Allen tweeted: “Who is the face of the woke. Do wokees have a club house in someone’s backyard or maybe a cute yet safe playpen somewhere?”Twitter / Tim Allen “This is the boomerest boomer tweet of all time,” one person quipped. “Using ‘woke’ and ‘social justice warrior’ as pejoratives is still the wildest shit to me,” another clapped back. “Utterly mind-bending that so many have latched onto the idea that ‘being aware and sympathetic to…

The NBA is back, and with a crop of exciting new rookies coming in, and carry-over storylines from last season, fans are excited to engage in basketball chatter once more, as they debate the ins and outs of the 1230 games + finals ahead. And Twitter is where much of the NBA chatter happens, which presents a great opportunity to tap into that engagement. As per Twitter: “The #NBATwitter conversation is gigantic. Last season, we saw 135 million NBA-related Tweets from over six million unique authors. With more than 42% of active Twitter users engaging with NBA content in some way,1 your brand has an opportunity to make connections and impressions beyond just diehard fans.” There could be some great tie-in and thematic content potential within that, and as such, it’s worth taking note of the excitement around the NBA season, and considering if there are any brand-relevant angles for your business. If you’re looking to get a better handle on the NBA discussion, you can check out Twitter’s full NBA/WNBA engagement overview here, or take a look at the infographic summary below.

Graham Norton has deleted his Twitter account days after a clip of him talking about “cancel culture” and JK Rowling went viral.The TV presenter was speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Tuesday (11 October), when he said that he felt the word “cancellation” should be replaced with “accountability’.“You read a lot of articles in papers by people complaining about cancel culture and you think, ‘In what world are you cancelled?’” he said. “I’m reading your article in a newspaper, or you’re doing interviews about how terrible it is to be cancelled? I think the word is the wrong word. I think the word should be ‘accountability’.”Host Mariella Frostrup then asked Norton about how his comments applied to Rowling, whom she said had been hit with “anger, rage and attempts at censorship” for her views on transgender people.Norton replied that he felt his voice on the topic “adds nothing to that discussion”, saying: “If people want to shine a light on those issues then – and I hope people do – talk to trans people. Talk to the parents of trans kids. Talk to doctors. Talk to psychiatrists. Talk to someone who can illuminate this in some way.“Graham Norton shouldn’t…

Kanye West is acquiring Parler, a controversial conservative social media site, the company has announced. In a statement on Monday, Parlement Technologies — Parler's parent company — said it was "pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement in principle for Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to acquire the Parler platform." "The acquisition ensures Parler a future role in creating an uncancelable ecosystem where all voices are welcome," the statement continued. In a statement of his own, Parler CEO George Farmer added: "Ye's acquiring of Parler will strengthen our ability to create an uncancelable ecosystem. No one should have to self-censor out of uncertainty about which legal speech will get him or her banned. No individual or business should worry about being completely deplatformed, as Parler was, merely for the expression of opposing viewpoints. Groupthink is, and always has been, more dangerous than independent thinking. "Parler will remain a place where everyone can think, listen, and speak freely. We will continue the fight against censorship, cancel culture, and authoritarianism." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news…