John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 10.27.2022 06:Oct AM EDT

Elon Musk Backs Out of Mass Layoff Plans for Twitter’s 7,500 Workers, Sources Say

Thousands of Twitter workers won't have to look for new jobs anymore.

The Chief Twit himself, Elon Musk, had told Twitter's employees he would no longer carry out his planned mass layoff for the company, which would have resulted in the firing of 5,500 workers, according to a Bloomberg report.

Musk originally planned to lay off 75% of Twitter's employees to possibly facilitate a stronger free cash flow and profitability, per AP News.

Elon Musk Twitter Lay Off Back Out Details

According to people familiar with the situation, Musk told Twitter's employees that he doesn't plan to cut three-quarters of the company's staff when he becomes its new owner.

Although this retraction is a direct reversal of his announcement to prospective investors on Oct. 21, Twitter employees are still anxious about their jobs as layoffs are still on the horizon.

According to Business Insider, layoffs are still expected once Musk takes over Twitter as its new owner on Oct. 28. However, it is unclear how many will lose their jobs and exactly when it will happen.

A report from the Washington Post, meanwhile, states that the layoffs are an inevitability. It reported that had Musk not gone through with his acquisition deal with Twitter, 1,900 employees would be laid off to reduce the company's payroll by $800 million.

Aside from reducing the number of its employees, Twitter also planned on having major infrastructure cuts and data center closures to cut costs.

Musk previously intended to fire as many as 5,500 of Twitter's employees in an attempt to cut back operational costs and make its cash flow stronger, turning it into a profitable company.

However, many experts, nonprofits organization, and even Twitter's own staff warned Musk of the results of his plan to lay off 75% of Twitter's employees. According to them, doing so will lead to a significant negative impact on the website's content moderation and data security, which hurts both the company and Twitter's users in the long run.

Had the layoffs gone through, the social media and microblogging platform could be overrun with harmful content and spam - something which Musk promised to address should he become Twitter's owner.

Aside from harmful content and spam, Twitter could also become a haven for hackers, allowing them to exploit people in various scams and cybercrime.

Twitter Musk Relationship Standing

The relationship between Twitter and Musk is still tense at best. Even though Musk announced in early October that he'll be buying Twitter again, he can still be the subject of a lawsuit should he back out of his acquisition agreement with Twitter again.

As a result, Musk has until 5 PM ET on Oct. 28 to formally agree to the deal or face a continuation of his legal battle with Twitter in court.

You may remember that Musk refused to honor his part of the deal when he said he would like to receive more information about how many fake accounts Twitter has.

The abrupt refusal of Musk of buying Twitter led to a legal battle between the two. However, Musk, for unknown reasons, decided to honor his part of the deal without any renegotiations in early October.