(NEW YORK) — Twitter will begin layoffs on Friday, the company announced in an email.
“In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday,” the company wrote in an email sent to employees on Thursday and obtained by ABC News.
“We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward,” the email continues.
The Washington Post was first to report the email to employees.
According to the company email, the layoff process will take place via email, and all employees will receive an email by 9 a.m. PT/noon ET on Friday with the subject line “Your Role at Twitter.”
Employees were told, via the company email Thursday, that they would receive a notification to their Twitter email if their employment was not impacted, and they would receive a notification to their personal email with next steps if their employment is impacted.
In the company email, Twitter said its offices are temporarily closed and “all badge access will be suspended.”
“We acknowledge this is an incredibly challenging experience to go through, whether or not you are impacted,” the company said in the email.
Three now-former Twitter employees told ABC News that they received an email confirming the layoff on Thursday night, around midnight ET. They said they were immediately locked out of all their work-related accounts and email and no longer have access to them. ABC News has not seen the email in question and it was not immediately clear whether it was an official layoff email from the company or a notification from a superior.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk closed the deal to acquire Twitter last week.
Musk — the richest person in the world, according to Forbes — reportedly acquired Twitter at his original offer price of $54.20 a share at a total cost of roughly $44 billion.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed Musk’s Twitter deal closure to ABC News on Oct. 28. Some of Twitter’s top executives were fired, including CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and general counsel Sam Edgett, and the company will likely be launching an internal investigation, according to the source.
Musk had said last week that he will forgo any significant content moderation or account reinstatement decisions until after the formation of a new committee devoted to the issues.
“Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” Musk tweeted. “No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”
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