Twitter sacks hundreds of people as new CEO Jack Dorsey culls employees

Twitter plans to 'honour' the people who have been sacked by making the app better, new boss says

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the service's first tweet: "just setting up my twttr". Source: Getty Images (Getty Images)

Twitter has announced that it will be sacking hundreds of staff, as the company attempts to stem its slowing growth.

In an email sent to employees today, titled "A more focused Twitter", new boss Jack Dorsey said that the company plans "to part ways with up to 336 people from across the company". That amounts to about 8 per cent of the company's workforce, which its claims is made up of 4,100 people.

The company plans to honour the sacked staff "by doing our best to serve all the people that use Twitter", according to Dorsey's letter.

"This isn't easy," Dorsey wrote. "But it is right. The world needs a strong Twitter, and this is another step to get there".

Dorsey became Twitter's permanent boss only last week, after months of running the company in a temporary role. He had long been expected to have to give up his payments company, Square, to take on the job full-time, but the company relaxed that requirement.

Soon after Dorsey took on the role rumours circulated that Twitter would fire a large proprtion of its staff.

Beginning his message by noting that "Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I'm going to give it to you straight", Dorsey said that the team "has been working around the clock to produce streamlined roadmap for Twitter, Vine, and Periscope".

"The roadmap is also a plan to change how we work, and what we need to do that work," the email read. "Product and Engineering are going to make the most significant structural changes to reflect our plan ahead. We feel strongly that Engineering will move much faster with a smaller and nimbler team, while remaining the biggest percentage of our workforce. And the rest of the organization will be streamlined in parallel.

"So we have made an extremely tough decision: we plan to part ways with up to 336 people from across the company. We are doing this with the utmost respect for each and every person. Twitter will go to great lengths to take care of each individual by providing generous exit packages and help finding a new job."