Elon Musk refutes reports of 1300 employee count at Twitter

Elon Musk has denied recent reports that social media company Twitter has experienced a significant reduction in its full-time headcount. In a tweet on Saturday, Twitter CEO Musk stated that there are approximately 2,300 active, working employees at Twitter. He revealed the data contradicting a report from CNBC which claimed that the company had reduced its headcount to around 1,300, including fewer than 550 full-time engineers by title.

In the report, CNBC also claimed that around 75 of Twitter's 1,300 employees are currently on leave, including approximately 40 engineers. However, Musk denied these claims, stating that the company still has "hundreds of employees working on trust & safety, along with several thousand contractors."

The note is incorrect. There are ~2300 active, working employees at Twitter.

There are still hundreds of employees working on trust & safety, along with several thousand contractors.

Less than 10 people from my other companies are working at Twitter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2023

Musk took over as CEO of Twitter in October and has implemented a number of changes to the company's product and organizational structure. Soon after the take over, Elon Musk rolled out a paid Twitter-verified blue checkmark service for a monthly fee of $8. He also laid off around 50 per cent of the social media giant's staff. The company had over 7,000 employees before Musk's takeover. Musk had reportedly promised Twitter employees that he won't be firing 75 per cent of the total strength.

Also read: 'Elon Musk is one of the greatest entrepreneurs': Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman

If the current statistics are to be considered, the social media company has already lost close to 70 per cent of its entire workforce since the time Elon Musk took over the brand.

Twitter is not alone. Major tech companies, including Google, Meta and Amazon have let go thousands of employees. Google was the latest to join the list by firing 12,000 employees. Amazon has decided to remove around 18,000 employees.

Also read: Elon Musk finally reveals Twitter Blue subscription price for Android users