Twitter (TWTR) says it is laying off 30% of its talent acquisition team as Elon Musk abandons his planned $44 billion U.S. acquisition of the social media company
Twitter declined to say exactly how many employees are impacted by the headcount reduction but said that affected employees will receive severance packages. Twitter has said that it is pausing most hiring this year amid ongoing market volatility.
The layoffs come as Elon Musk, who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA), cancels his proposed takeover of Twitter.
Last week, a lawyer for Musk informed Twitter’s board of directors that he wants to cancel the deal. Musk has taken issue with the number of bots and fake accounts on Twitter.
However, Twitter is not the only technology company to announce layoffs recently. It’s estimated that more than 30,000 technology workers in the U.S. have been laid off in the last two months, according to industry data.
Twitter’s executive ranks have also been shuffled in recent months. After the acquisition deal with Elon Musk was signed, Twitter let go of the head of its consumer division and its revenue product lead. Twitter has also lost its chief design officer and head of engineering in recent months.
Concerning the acquisition, Twitter says it has provided Musk the information he needs to assess its claim that spam accounts make up only 5% of its daily active users, and that it plans to pursue legal action to enforce the acquisition agreement that Musk signed.
Twitter’s stock has fallen 14% year to date to trade at $36.81 U.S. per share.
