Twitter Lays Off 8% Of Workforce

Social media platform Twitter said today it will be laying off up 336 jobs, equivalent to 8% of its global workforce. The move is the latest in a series of setbacks for the messaging service, which has struggled to maintain growth following its IPO in November 2013.

In a filing to the SEC, Twitter released a statement indicating the move was “part of an overall plan to organize around the company’s top product priorities and drive efficiencies.” In the filing, Twitter said it expects revenue and its adjusted earnings to come in above its previously forecast range for the quarter.

The cuts come a week after Jack Dorsey was named full-time chief exec of the company he once helped create. Dorsey is also maintaining his CEO post at payments platform Square Inc. In an email to staff, entitled “A More Focused Twitter,” Dorsey laid out the reasons for the job cuts.

“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,” wrote Dorsey. “This isn’t easy but it is right. The world needs a strong Twitter, and this is another step to get there.”

Shares of Twitter, down 20% in the previous quarter, rose 3.1% before the market opened.