Days after completing the $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform, Elon Musk reportedly planned to start firing workers at Twitter.

According to a New York Times report, Musk “planned to begin laying off workers” at Twitter as early as Saturday.

Also read: Elon Musk says Twitter is yet to make changes in its content moderation policies

According to the report, some managers were being ordered to “draw up lists of employees to cut,” according to persons with knowledge of the situation. Before Musk bought Twitter, there were rumours that he would reduce staffing, with some predicting up to 75% of the company’s employees might lose their jobs.

“Musk, who completed a USD 44-billion deal to buy Twitter on Thursday, has ordered the cuts across the company, with some teams to be trimmed more than others,” the NYT report said, adding that the “scale of the layoffs could not be determined” at the company, which has around 7,500 employees.

The NYT report said that the layoffs at Twitter “would take place before” the November 1 date when “employees were scheduled to receive stock grants as part of their compensation.

Also read: Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover: How much Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde stand to make?

Such grants typically represent a significant portion of employees’ pay. By laying off workers before that date,” Musk “may avoid paying the grants.” Musk has told investors that he “would take Twitter private, reduce its work force, roll back its content moderation rules and find new revenue streams.” “Fresh baked bread & pastries are some of the great joys of life. Finally, the truth that carbs are amazing can be said on this platform!” with the hashtags “so brave” and “free speech,” he tweeted on Saturday.

According to Musk, the social media business would establish a “content moderation council,” and big content judgments or account reinstatements won’t take place before the group meets.

“Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes,” Musk tweeted on Friday, a day after he completed the USD 44 billion-dollar acquisition of the social media company.

Also read: Twitter delisted from New York Stock Exchange after Elon Musk acquisition

“To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies,” he added.

CEO Parag Agrawal, legal executive Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett were ousted as Musk’s acquisition was completed.

The Tesla CEO started tweeting shortly after assuming control of Twitter.

“The bird is freed”, “Spoiler Alert. Let the good times roll”, “Living the Dream. Comedy is now legal on Twitter”.

Agrawal, 38, took over as CEO of Twitter in November of last year after co-founder Jack Dorsey announced his resignation.

As the Twitter account of former US President Donald Trump was permanently suspended in January last year, Hyderabad-born Gadde was at the forefront of this dramatic decision undertaken within days of the attempted insurrection by pro-Trump supporters at the US Capitol.

Also read: Will Elon Musk repeal Twitter ban on Donald Trump?

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thanked Agrawal, Segal and Gadde for their “massive contribution” to the business.

“Thank you to @paraga, @vijaya, and @nedsegal for the collective contribution to Twitter. Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each!” Stone tweeted.

Musk met with engineers and advertising executives after arriving at the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday.

He changed the bio of his Twitter account to “Chief Twit.” The billionaire has pledged to reform Twitter by relaxing the rules governing content moderation, improving algorithm transparency, fostering subscription businesses, and terminating staff.

Twitter agreed to take Musk’s offer to buy the social media platform private in April.

Musk promptly cast doubt on his willingness to uphold the deal, claiming that the business had not fully disclosed the quantity of spam and bot accounts using the site.

Also read: ‘The bird is freed’: Elon Musk’s cryptic post confirming Twitter takeover

When Musk said he was terminating the deal, Twitter sued the billionaire, alleging he “refuses to honour his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.” Earlier in October, Musk said he wanted to pursue his acquisition of Twitter at the original price of USD 54.20 a share if the social messaging service dropped its litigation.

Twitter’s lawyers said that the Tesla CEO’s “proposal is an invitation to further mischief and delay.” A Delaware Chancery Court judge eventually ruled that Musk had until October 28 to cement the Twitter deal or head to trial.

Also read: How Elon Musk is planning to run Twitter post acquisition

On Thursday, Musk wrote a message to reassure advertisers that social messaging services wouldn’t devolve into “a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said in the message.

“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far-right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society,” he added.