The ‘blood bath’ has officially started in Twitter offices as the firm’s new chapter begins under the new owner Elon Musk. On Friday, the microblogging site closed its offices on a temporary basis and told the employees they would be informed by email whether or not they are retained. 

As part of the global job cut, Twitter fired a large number of employees in India across verticals, including engineering, sales and marketing, and communications. According to sources, there is still no clarification on the severance payout for staff laid off in the country. 

Indian media reports cited a source (a Twitter India employee), who said the lay-off has started. The employee told India-based news agency PTI on condition of anonymity that some of colleagues have received an email notification regarding the layoff. 

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On the other hand, those who have been retained have also got an e-mail from the human resource department. Indian media outlet India Today published one such e-mail, which stated that it is sent to “confirm that today’s workforce reduction does not impact your employment”. 

The e-mail that was sent to those who are apparently retained also included that the billionaire Elon Musk spent time with several employees, customers, partners, policymakers and Twitter users and he will communicate with everyone about his vision for the company soon. 

Ae e-mail sent to those who have been asked ‘to wait’ informed the employees that their role at Twitter has been identified as potentially impacted or at risk of redundancy and further information would be shared with them soon.

The downsizing move was communicated by the social media company via email to staff. The email sent on Thursday, as seen by Reuters, noted: “In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday.” 

WATCH | WION Business News | Twitter to begin mass layoffs on Friday 

Earlier this week, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said that he will now serve as the chief executive of Twitter also, after he fired previous Indian-origin chief Parag Agrawal and other top company officials last week. 

Musk recently bought the social media company for $44 billion after month-long drama. He also runs a brain-chip startup Neuralink and tunneling firm the Boring Company. 

He also announced that a Twitter Blue subscription will cost $8 per month as he slammed the “current lords & peasants system” for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark. 

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