Elon Musk plans to fire Twitter employees starting Saturday

Musk took control of Twitter on Thursday after selling the platform for $44 billion. Even before the deal was struck, there were rumors that Musk would be laying off employees. The Washington Post wrote last week that he wanted to fire 75 percent of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, but Musk later denied this.

According to sources, he intends to dismiss some employees. Bloomberg News reported that Musk has asked executives to prepare lists of employees who can be fired.

The layoffs were due before November 1, according to the New York Times. The employees are then given stock as compensation. These usually make up a large portion of workers’ wages, and firing employees before this date will not pay Musk the additional compensation, the newspaper wrote.

Musk fired Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Jade upon the acquisition of the company on Thursday.