200+ Seattle Twitter Workers Laid Off

SEATTLE — More than 200 Seattle-based Twitter employees are part of the mass layoffs underway at the social media company after billionaire Elon Musk completed his $44 billion buyout, including roughly $12.7 billion financed through loans from major banks.

After initially saying he planned to cut up to 75 percent of Twitter's 7,500 employees, Musk initiated widespread layoffs for closer to half of the workforce on Friday, impacting approximately 3,700 workers.

As Bloomberg reported Sunday, Twitter management began reaching out to dozens of fired employees asking them to return after it became apparent the layoffs severely impacted core teams working to implement new features.

Since taking over the company Musk has faced a steady flow of criticism related to the company's moderation policies and a controversial plan to charge users $8 a month for verification as part of the company's existing Twitter Blue service.

In Washington, the state Employment Security Department said Monday that it received a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice impacting 208 Seattle-area employees whose employment will formally end on Jan. 4.