Now that Jack Dorsey is back as the CEO of Twitter, this time for good, one of the first things he’s going to do is fire a bunch of people, starting next week. This is according to a report from Re/code, which claims that Twitter is looking to cut costs and possibly even make itself more desirable of an acquisition by laying off some employees. The number of employees that will be fired is unknown, however, and Twitter has refused to comment on the matter.
Jack is back and he’s bringing company-wide layoffs with him. Twitter is said to be planning to announce layoffs across most departments of the company next week, according a report late Friday from Re/code. The precise number or percentage of staff affected is unclear. “We’re not commenting on rumor and speculation,” a spokesperson for Twitter told Mashable. Speculation about the move comes just days after Twitter announced that cofounder Jack Dorsey would take over as the permanent CEO, following a lengthy search. While the layoffs will almost certainly hit company morale, it should appease investors eager to see Twitter rein in costs and boost its profitability. Laying off staff and cutting costs could also make Twitter more desirable to potential acquirers, even as top execs at the company insist it will remain independent. Twitter has more than 4,100 employees spread across three dozen offices worldwide, half of which are engineers who often need to be compensated quite well to compete with the big tech companies and fast-growing number of billion-dollar unicorns. Twitter has been criticized in the past for handing out excessive stock bonuses to staff while struggling to reach profitability.
