On Wednesday, The Insider reported that Twitter is not done cutting staff, with the social media platform preparing to lay off another 50 workers in the company’s product division in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with the company.
Coming just six weeks after CEO Elon Musk had assured staff the company was finished cutting costs for the time being, these layoffs could reduce the company’s total staffing to under 2,000 employees, according to the report.
In October, Musk took possession of the social media platform, and quickly began a reorganization of operations and a revamping of policies and procedures. There was an immediate 50% reduction in the company’s 7,500 employees, with more cuts made to contracted staff, as Musk ordered content moderation loosened. He then rolled out a new subscription service called Twitter Blue, which allowed regular Tweeters to acquire the coveted blue checkmark of verification for an $8 per month fee. It was noted the Blue service would also make it much more costly to run bot armies, since each blue checkmark would require an $8 per month investment.
At the same time, many of the platforms top advertisers put their ad campaigns on pause, amid increasing controversy over loosening content moderation and the return of previously banned figures, as well as fears of a potential increase in hate speech due to massive cuts to the content moderation staff. Musk at the time noted the company was facing a “massive drop in revenue,” and he would later describe it as in the “fast lane to bankruptcy.”
He later noted he had staunched the financial bleeding, and the company was no longer headed to bankruptcy.
According to a report by online publication the Information on Wednesday, revenues for the social media giant were down in the fourth quarter by 35% to $1.025 billion, according to a top ad executive, who revealed it at a staff meeting.