Twitter has announced that it has laid off at least 200 of its employees, or about 10 percent of the roughly 2,000 that were still working for the company. The layoffs come after the company was acquired by Elon Musk in October, and as he has sought to reduce costs. The news was confirmed by three people familiar with the matter. Twitter employees were informed of the layoffs on Saturday night. In the week leading up to the layoffs, the company made it difficult for its employees to communicate with each other by blocking their internal messaging system. This was done to prevent any leaks of the impending job cuts. In a statement, Musk said: "We are making difficult but necessary changes to ensure Twitter is positioned for long-term success. These changes will help us create a stronger Twitter and help us continue to provide the best service for our users." The layoffs are the latest in a series of cost-cutting measures that Twitter has taken in recent months. The company has also reduced its marketing budget, closed its offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo, and stopped hiring new employees. Twitter is not the only tech giant to lay off employees in recent months. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have also announced job cuts in order to reduce costs.