Elon Musk tweets Twitter offered 3-month severance but Indian staff got a 2-month deal

Employees had already been leaving Twitter before Musk's complete takeover.

Now, there have been official sackings in the thousands. Many users, including celebrities with huge fan followings, are moving away from the website, and even advertisers pulling advertisement spending.

Advertisers pulling out has led to a "massive" revenue drop, as per Musk's latest tweet.

 

It remains to be seen how the leftover team manages to plug the "$4 million daily losses".

Musk's plan to begin charging $8 for the blue ticks has not gone down well with many users, including the likes of famous author Stephen King and tennis player Martina Navratilova, who preferred to give up the badge than pay.

Musk has hinted that he would "award" content creators. What logic he would use to differentiate who a content creator is on a microblogging platform, which started as a 140-word messaging platform and later doubled, could be anybody's guess. And if he ends up paying these "content creators", wouldn't he end up losing more than he earns from selling blue ticks?

While this would need more detailed discussion and more clarity from Twitter, many verified users might start losing their blue tick badges as soon as Monday, November 7, unless they pay for it.

Twitter's safety and integrity head has, meanwhile, made the first official confirmation about the size of the layoffs. In a tweet, he confirmed that 50 percent of employees were asked to go. He also said only 15 percent of Twitter's staff on the trust and safety team, the one that's responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation and harmful content, were laid off.

Twitter has already been sued over Musk-ordered layoffs without enough notice period. According to a Bloomberg report, this was in violation of federal and California law.

But as Scott Kessler, Global Sector Lead - Tech, Third Bridge, shared with CNBC-TV18, the only investors of note in Twitter are those who hold debt. "Investors in debt like to see cost and expense cuts. Apart from legal risks, Twitter's investors will have no problem with the layoffs," he said.

Kessler said experts are debating whether specific state laws have been adhered to when effecting mass layoffs. "But Musk will move forward with layoffs and deal with the repercussions later," he said. Whether the figure shared by Musk of giving 50 percent more than "legally required" as severance will also be under scrutiny.

The exact number of staff axed is still not known, but media reports suggest Twitter had a 7,500-strong workforce before the layoffs.

Sources told CNBC-TV18 that Twitter had more than 200 employees in India, and a large majority has been laid off across all functions.

Here is an excerpt of letters shared with employees in India and reviewed by CNBC-TV18: