Twitter takeover: Musk denies reports claiming he fired employees to avoid payouts

Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has denied a New York Times report about laying off Twitter employees at a date earlier than November 1 to avoid stock grants due that day.

In a response to a Twitter user asking about the layoffs, Musk tweeted: "This is false."

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Musk had ordered job cuts across the company, with some teams to be trimmed more than others, and that layoffs would take place before November 1, when employees were scheduled to receive stock grants as part of their compensation.

Citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, the Times reported the cuts could begin as soon as Saturday.

According to media reports on Saturday, Musk fired top executives in an effort to avoid hefty severance payouts, while lining up other layoffs as soon as Saturday.

Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde on completion of a high-profile $44 billion buyout of the social media platform on Thursday, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

He had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the platform.

According to research firm Equilar, the executives stood to receive separation payouts totalling nearly $122 million.

Citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, The Information (a business publication) reported that Elon Musk terminated four top Twitter executives, including Agrawal and Segal "for cause", in an apparent effort to avoid severance pay and unvested stock awards.

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