Elon Musk reportedly plans to fire 75 per cent of Twitter's 7,500 employees if his proposed $44 billion takeover is completed - and some may go even if it isn't.

The buyout of Twitter by Elon Musk is back on and while that might be good news for shareholders, it doesn't look likely to be music to the ears of people who actually work at the company. That's because a new report by The Washington Post has Musk telling prospective investors that he intends to cut almost 75 per cent of the company's workforce.

If the buyout completes and Musk follows through on his threat, Twitter will see its numbers slashed from around 7,500 to just 2,000.

But while employees may take solace in the fact that the buyout is far from complete - and Musk is more than capable of throwing it into turmoil again - the report suggests that cuts are expected even if he isn't the one behind the wheel.

The Washington Post reports that Twitter's current management team already planned to cut the company's existing payroll by around $800 million by the end of 2023, meaning around 25 per cent of the current workforce would be left looking for new work.

While information on which teams would be most affected isn't available, such a high number of people leaving the company is expected to have a knock-on impact on users. Edwin Chen, a former Twitter employee in charge of the company's spam and health metrics, told The Washington Post that such huge losses could cause the company to suffer system outages. They believe that those still with the company may then lack the knowledge required to fix things.

A lawyer for Twitter reportedly sent a note to employees on 20 October to say that there was no knowledge of Musk's plans should the buyout happen.