A Twitter employee joked that they would write 'stay employed' for their Q3 goals after Elon Musk's takeover, report says

• A Twitter worker joked about how to stay employed after Elon Musk bought the firm, per a report.
• The Verge and New York Magazine collaboratively reported on workers' fears amid the takeover.

A Twitter worker joked they would write "stay employed" for their third-quarter goals after Elon Musk acquired the platform, according to a collaborative report by The Verge and New York Magazine, which was later extracted by The Guardian.

In the wake of Musk's takeover of Twitter in late October, employees were concerned about job cuts at the company, The Verge reported, citing more than 24 current and former Twitter employees.

The workers hadn't heard anything from Musk about layoffs and started scanning social-media sites and the billionaire's tweets for hints, the report said.

"Hey all don't forget to complete your q3 goals!" one worker posted on the company's Slack, per The Verge. Another employee replied, saying: "Writes, 'stay employed'," the report said.

As some employees waited to hear their fate, others — including chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and CEO Parag Agrawal — were immediately fired after the $44 billion deal went through.

Panic in the workforce was evident on the evening Musk bought Twitter when people were found sobbing in the bathroom during a Halloween party at the company's San Francisco headquarters, per The Verge.

This was around the time that Musk walked into Twitter's headquarters carrying a sink, and his two-year-old son, X Æ a-Xii, reportedly ran around the office while Musk was in a meeting with Yoel Roth, who was the head of trust and safety at the time but later resigned.

Twitter didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal US operating hours.

Since Musk took over Twitter, thousands of employees have either resigned or been fired or laid off, Insider's Kali Hays reported. The job losses have left entire departments at Twitter without many — or any — staff remaining. The legal department, for example, was left severely depleted.

Musk tweeted on January 21 that Twitter had 2,300 "active, working employees" remaining.