Financial Associated Press, October 25 (Editor Xia Junxiong)An open letter is being circulated within employees of social media platform Twitter (NYSE: ) protesting plans by the world‘s richest man, Elon Musk, to fire 75% of the company’s workforce, according to media reports.
It was reported last week that Musk told potential backers of the Twitter acquisition that he planned to lay off nearly 75% of Twitter’s workforce, reducing the company’s workforce from 7,500 to just 2,000. Musk has previously publicly claimed that Twitter is too bloated and said its employees have strong left-wing leanings.
“Elon Musk’s plan to fire 75% of Twitter’s workforce will damage Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation,” Twitter employees said in the letter. “A threat of this level is reckless and undermines our users and customers. Trust in our platform is a clear act of intimidation of employees.”
Twitter employees are asking Musk to promise to keep Twitter’s current workforce if his takeover is successful. They also demanded that Musk refrain from discriminating against employees based on political beliefs, commit to a fair exit policy and communicate more about working conditions.
Twitter employees say that as employees, they deserve specific commitments so that they can continue to maintain the integrity of the Twitter platform. They concluded in the letter: “We demand to be treated with dignity, not as pawns in the billionaire game.”
It’s unclear how many Twitter employees signed the letter, and the open letter’s originator said it won’t be made public unless there are enough signatories.
In April, Musk proposed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in cash. After Twitter’s board agreed to buy it, he once changed his mind and said he would withdraw from the deal on the grounds that he believed Twitter’s “proportion of fake accounts” was higher than The company claims less than 5%. Twitter immediately launched a legal action to require Musk to complete the acquisition.
Things took a dramatic turn this month, however, when Musk said he would move forward with a deal to buy Twitter. Musk has until Friday to complete the acquisition or face a renewed lawsuit in Delaware court.
In addition, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has also attracted the attention of the US federal government. According to media reports, the U.S. government is considering launching a national security review of Musk’s planned Twitter acquisition.