Twitter reportedly looking to cut workforce by another 8%

The layoffs would affect another 300 workers, as the company struggles following its failure to sell

A week ago I posited that Twitter may have a big problem on its hands: it had given out stock to numerous employees as pay. Now, with its stock tanking, it seemed likely that many of those employees would take the opportunity to leave the company, rather than hope the company would be able to bounce back.

It looks like they may not get that chance, as Twitter is getting there first.

The company is going to lay off 8 percent of its staff, totally nearly 300 workers, according to a report out from Bloomberg on Monday. No specific departments being targeted for layoffs were mentioned, though a TechCrunch report singles out the company's sales team as being particularly vulnerable. 

The number of affected workers could change, sources said, but the announcement could come as early as this week, perhaps even before the company reports its third quarter earnings on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Twitter also announced that it has moved up its earnings release; instead of coming after the closing bell, as earnings are typically announced, the company will be releasing its numbers before market open at approximately 4 am Pacific Time.

The company said that it was moving the time "to avoid overlapping with several other earnings announcements in the Internet sector scheduled for Thursday afternoon," but releasing the numbers so early in the morning has already led to some speculation that there could be other news coming.

Whether or not the move has anything to do with the Bloomberg report is unknown.

VatorNews reached out to Twitter for confirmation of the report, and for comment on any connection to the time change, but a Twitter spokesperson would only give me the standard, "We don't comment on rumor or speculation."

This kind of cut is not unprecedented for Twitter. In October of last year, newly minted CEO Jack Dorsey, revealed that the company would be cutting 336 jobs, or 8 percent of its global workforce.

That was the first mass layoff in Twitter's entire history. Now it's about to see its second. 

This news comes as Twitter has endured a big stock drop follow increased speculation that it would be acquired. 

Reports began to surface that numerous companies were expressing interest in acquiring the company, including Disney, Google and Salesforce. As a result Twitter made major gains in its stock price, closing at its highest level in 10 months.

As soon as those bidders started to drop out, though, all those gains were lost. In just the last two weeks, it has lost nearly 33 percent of its value, dropping from $24 a share on October 3, to $16.88 as of Friday's close.

On October 5, the company's stock ended at $24.87 a share;  on October 19, it ended at $17.07, down 31 percent just two weeks later.

The stock is down 22.08 percent year-to-date.

(Image source: businessinsider.com)