Elon Musk responds to NYT reporting on avoiding payouts: ‘This is false’

Elon Musk on Sunday denied a New York Times report that he planned to fire some Twitter employees before Nov. 1 to avoid payouts in their contracts. 

The New York Times reported that layoffs could begin at Twitter as soon as Saturday, with some employees missing out on stock grants that make up a “significant portion” of their pay, citing four unnamed sources. 

Eric Umansky, an editor at ProPublica, shared the NYT story in a tweet, writing “What a guy…@elonmusk is making sure to fire people at Twitter before part of their year-end compensation *kicks in on Tuesday.*” 

“This is false,” Musk said in response to the tweet from Umansky.

Musk, 51, officially purchased Twitter on Thursday, after six months of legal battles over his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform. 

After completing his acquisition of the social media platform, Musk promptly fired top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and chief legal counsel Vijaya Gadde. 

Twitter has around 7,500 employees. Musk has denied reports that he plans to cut 75 percent of the workforce, but the Times cited second-hand reports that some 50 percent of employees could be laid off.

Musk also said he plans to lift lifetime bans on individuals including former President Trump. However, Trump has said that while he likes Musk, he intends to stay on his own fledgling social media platform.

Musk’s acquisition of Twitter also saw a rapid rise of racist and anti-semitic tweets, drawing concerns from many prominent users of the platform such as Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). 

The Hill has reached out to Twitter about whether any employees will be fired before Nov. 1.