Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

Image source, Reuters

While Elon Musk is the biggest shareholder in Twitter, the second largest is a Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund called Kingdom Holding Company, which is controlled by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal (pictured).

When contacted by the BBC, Kingdom Holding Company declined to comment on plans by Musk to cut jobs.

It also declined to comment on remarks made by two US Democratic Senators recently who have raised national security concerns about Saudi Arabia's investment in Twitter - and what it could mean for people who criticise the royal family.

Prince Alwaleed is the cousin of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who has been accused by Western intelligence of ordering the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The Saudi Crown Prince's own Public Investment Fund holds a sizeable stake in Kingdom Holding Company.

Senator Chris Murphy said in a letter: "Setting aside the vast stores of data that Twitter has collected on American citizens, any potential that Twitter’s foreign ownership will result in increased censorship, misinformation, or political violence is a grave national security concern."

Meanwhile, Senator Ron Wyden said: “Given the Saudi regime’s history of jailing critics, planting a spy at Twitter and brutally murdering a WashingtonPost journalist, the Saudi regime must be blocked from accessing Twitter account information, direct messages and other data that could be used to identify political opponents or to suppress criticism of the royal family."

Twitter has been contacted for comment.

Earlier we told you about Simon Balmain who works for Twitter out of the UK. He told us he believed he'd been laid off as he'd been logged out of his work systems.

He's just spoken on the BBC News channel and says he's still waiting to hear what will happen.

He said: "It's a coin flip for everyone at this point."

Asked what he thought of Elon Musk, Twitter's new owner, he said he tried not to judge people he didn't know personally.

But he added: "I don't know if that sort of experience, in sort of physical products like cars and spaceships, neccessarily translates to social media."

Will Guyatt, technology correspondent for LBC, tells the BBC that Musk’s behaviour was “appalling” and that managing job losses like “some kind of lotto” was not acceptable.

“He does have to make changes to Twitter but he did not have to do it in such an awful fashion,” Guyatt says.

He hopes authorities in the UK, and elsewhere, look at the way the lay-offs have been handled.

Guyatt adds: “I know business people have to make tough decisions, I understand that jobs have to be lost, but when you’re the world’s richest man you can do it with a little bit more class.”

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Emily McGarvey
Live reporter

We've had no official statement from Twitter regarding today's mass layoffs, and when the BBC tried contacting a communications employee from the firm, they told us they were among the staff who'd been let go.

Twitter employees will be anxiously waiting for an email to arrive by 4pm today telling them whether they will keep their jobs.

Staff and users of the social media platform have been using the hashtag #OneTeam to voice their frustrations as they await official confirmation over the fate of their jobs following Elon Musk's takeover.

One Twitter user said, external: "My heart goes to the Twitter employees who are being laid off. Keep being bold, and your best days are yet to come."

Another employee who retained his job, said, external: "I’m still here but absolutely heartbroken for the amazing colleagues we’ve lost. Here for every one of you #OneTeam".

As we've been reporting through the day Twitter staff are set to learn whether they've survived Elon Musk's cull within the next hour.

Around 16:00 GMT those who are losing their jobs will receive an email to their personal account, while those who are staying on will get a message via their work email.

Some have already taken to Twitter and LinkedIn to share that they have been locked out of their accounts before getting official confirmation that they've lost their jobs.

Andy Piper wrote: "It is done."

In America, Caroline Bergin tweeted that she is now "a free bird".

Sam Hancock
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Volkswagen has become the latest brand to pause advertising on Twitter since Elon Musk's acquisition of the social media company.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and will decide about next steps depending on its evolvement," Europe's top carmaker says in a statement.

Yesterday, food manufacturer General Mills, which owns brands like Cheerios and Lucky Charms, did the same - saying it was continuing to monitor the social media company's "new direction" and wanted to "evaluate [its] marketing spend".

Other brands to have paused paid activity on the platform so far are US car giant General Motors, Audi and Pfizer, of the pharmaceutical industry.

Musk, a self-styled "free speech absolutist", has been critical of Twitter's moderation policies in the past. Many believe he will U-turn on decisions such as to ban former US president Donald Trump for spreading misinformation on Twitter.

So brands are now having to grapple with whether they risk having an ad of theirs placed next to posts that could be deemed harmful.

Why is this a potential issue for Musk? Because, as we reported earlier, Twitter makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertisers.

Elon Musk has tweeted in the last few moments but hasn't addressed the expected huge layoffs at his company, instead focusing on Twitter's poor financial state.

He writes: "Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.

"Extremely messed up!

"They’re trying to destroy free speech in America."

Some senior staff at Twitter have reportedly been asked to make lists of employees to be cut on their teams, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources.

Binance, one of the world's biggest cryptocurrency firms, invested $500 million in Elon Musk's buyout of Twitter.

Earlier, Changpeng Zhao, Binance's chief executive, said that "a slimmer workforce would make more sense".

Zhao also criticised Twitter for having been slow to roll out new features on its platform given its level of staffing, while speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon.

UK-based Twitter employees are likely to have legal protections beyond their employment contracts, an expert has said.

Philip Richardson, head of employment law at Stephensons Solicitors, said: "This could include a failure to follow collective redundancy processes, unfair dismissal, rights to statutory payments such as notice and holiday pay as well as potential breaches of discrimination legislation.

"Each case has to be determined on its own facts but careful scrutiny will be given to Twitter’s decision which goes against the grain of best HR practice, whether nationally or internationally, in recognising the fundamental element of consultation with staff.”

He said that the mass layoffs were “another example of a laissez-faire approach to HR which can seriously harm employee morale and brand reputation".

Dublin has been home to Twitter’s European headquarters since 2014 and we've been hearing some reaction from the Republic of Ireland.

Public policy manager Kennedy O’Brien wrote: "I loved this company with all my heart.

"I was incredibly proud to work here for nearly five years learning from the best people but all good things come to an end."

Another now former employee - Gareth Field tweeted his reaction to finding out he'd lost his job first thing this morning.

“Woke up to the sad news that I’m no longer a Tweep," he wrote.

"I loved every single moment working on the global Twitter Comms team, collaborating with and learning from an outstanding group of talented people.

"Thank you to everyone who made it so special."

Some more reaction to bring you from employees who have taken to social media to speak about losing their job with Twitter.

Of course, Twitter has offices outside of the United States.

In India, public policy worker Yash Agarwal tweeted: "Just got laid off.

"Bird App, it was an absolute honour, the greatest privilege ever to be a part of this team, this culture."

We've been hearing from Twitter employees who find themselves locked out of their own work accounts - without being told whether they have been sacked or not.

The BBC spoke to one employee in London who described how his work laptop screen went grey. He says this is what happens when a laptop is "remotely wiped".

"You don't wipe a laptop... if you're planning to keep somebody on", he says.

We've heard lots today about Elon Musk's Twitter takeover, and the subsequent ongoing sackings, but what about the man himself?

The Elon Musk Show, a new BBC series, gets to the heart of who Musk really is, by interviewing the people that know him best - including family members, employees and enemies.

It's available to UK viewers only and is on the iPlayer now. Watch here.

Where do you go to share your story when you've lost your job?

Here's a snapshot of what some employees have been saying today.

Emily McGarvey
Live reporter

I’m outside Twitter’s headquarters off Piccadilly Circus in central London, on a street that would normally be bustling with people, but this morning it’s a very different story.

Apart from the few journalists and photographers gathered outside, no employees have entered or left the building since I arrived here this morning.

The office's blinds are drawn and the atmosphere is very quiet, possibly a reflection of the mood amongst staff as they wait to hear whether they still have a job come 4pm UK time.

I’m hearing that the company's employees mostly work from home on Fridays, but in any case today all staff have been told to work remotely while the future of their jobs is decided.

Will we see staff clearing out their desks this afternoon when the job cuts are apparently due to take place? That remains to be seen, but all is quiet at Twitter HQ for now.

With difficulty, it seems. It has only made a yearly pre-tax profit twice since it was set up in 2007.

Twitter makes the vast majority of its revenue - or sales - from advertisers on its platform. You'll see evidence of this pop up in your feed from time to time.

The more people it has using the social media platform, the more eyeballs advertisers have on whatever they happen to be flogging.

It does not, however, make money from the people like you and me who use Twitter. And this is what Elon Musk wants to tap into, hence his plan to charge people $8 for a premium subscription service.

This would give users the much-coveted "verified" blue tick on their profile, boost the visibility of their posts and reduce the number of adverts they see.

This has gone down like a lead balloon with some users, such as the novelist Stephen King who issued a robust response to the proposal. But as Musk said: "We need to pay the bills somehow!"

Now is not a good time to be a technology company which relies on digital advertising to make money - as Twitter does.

This graphic shows that Twitter's yearly revenue up to 2021 has been rising. But if you look at the firm's most recent figures more closely - comparing activity over the three months to 30 June 2022 to the same period the year before - it shows that sales have dipped.

While it partly blames this on the disruption caused by Elon Musk's rocky takeover of Twitter, it also says there are "advertising industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment". In layman's terms, that means that the companies who pay to advertise on Twitter are worried about the economy and are cutting what they spend.

Alphabet, the company which owns Google and YouTube, recently reported that its sales missed forecasts for precisely the same reason. And if Alphabet - the biggest seller of digital advertising in America - is starting to feel the pain, others like Twitter will feel it all the more too.

As Evelyn Mitchell, analyst at Insider Intelligence, said: “It’s a bad omen for digital advertising at large.”

Image source, .

Unions are beginning to have their say, with the UK's Prospect describing Elon Musk's mass Twitter sackings as a "digital P&O" situation.

The trade union, which represents engineers and other tech workers, is referring to the infamous firing of 800 workers by P&O Ferries earlier this year, which provoked a government response.

In a statement, Prospect's general secretary Mike Clancy, accuses Twitter of "treating its people appallingly". He adds:

Image source, Reuters

Elon Musk is widely expected to make a big impact on the way Twitter is run.

Technology commentator Gareth Edwards has told the BBC there are two major risks to the platform as sweeping changes are made.

Edwards says the tech base that underlies Twitter, the product itself, is "actually incredibly robust and well-built" but a lay-off on this scale and this fast risks losing staff "who are very key to your product".

He said these were the staff "that are making vital contributions, that you didn't realise were vital because they're not documented partiularly well, or the process through which you identified lay-offs didn't highlight that they were vital."

Edwards also highlights a second issue for both employees and the userbase.

"Social media products depend almost entirely on trust, and development work depends on trust, particularly in competitive job markets, and when you've watched a process like this you're not going to feel particularly motivated to work for that company anymore... and as a user you get worried about what changes are coming down the line that might affect you."