Twitter says employee layoffs to begin today

Twitter said it would start laying off employees on Friday, as the new billionaire owner Elon Musk moves quickly after his big takeover to make the messaging platform financially sound.

A company-wide email seen by AFP says that Twitter employees would receive word via email at the start of business on Friday (California time), as to what their fate was.

It does not give a number but the Washington Post and New York Times reported that about half of Twitter's 7,500 employees would be shown the door.

Twitter's employees have been bracing for this kind of news since Musk completed his mammoth $44 billion acquisition late last week and quickly set about cleaning house, dissolving its board and firing its chief executive and top managers.

A workplace and employee review and other projects ordered by Musk were reportedly so exhaustive and gruelling, that some engineers reported sleeping at the Twitter headquarters itself, over the weekend.

The email sent on Thursday told workers to go home and not report for work on Friday.

"In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global work force," the email said.

"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," it added.