Photo for illustrative purposes only. ARCHIVE

Twitter plans to begin laying off Twitter staff on Friday, according to an email sent to employees. Sources say Elon Musk intends to lay off half of the workforce to cut costs at the social media company he purchased for $44 billion last month. "In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday," Twitter management said. The management said that the action is necessary to ensure the company's success in the future. According to the memo, the company will notify affected employees on Friday at 9 a.m. San Francisco time (8 p.m. UAE). Twitter intends to temporarily close offices and suspend badge access "to help ensure the safety of each employee, as well as Twitter systems and customer data," the memo said. According to sources this week, Musk wants to cut approximately 3,700 jobs. The entrepreneur has already hinted about his staffing priorities, stating that he wanted to focus on the core product. "Software engineering, server operations & design will rule the roost," he tweeted in early October. Security personnel at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters prepared for the layoffs, while an internal directory used to look up colleagues was taken offline on Thursday afternoon. According to the sources, employees have been anticipating the layoffs for weeks and have been racing to connect via LinkedIn and other non-Twitter channels, offering each other advice on how to deal with job loss. BKM/ Expat Media
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