Musk scraps free lunches at Twitter to save $13m a year

ELON MUSK has ditched free lunches at Twitter to save $13m (£11m) a year, after claiming more people are preparing the meals than eating them.

Announcing the decision on the social media site, Mr Musk said: “Twitter spends $13m [per] year on food service for SF [San Francisco] HQ. Badge records show peak occupancy was 25pc, average occupancy below 10pc.

“There are more people preparing breakfast than eating breakfast. They don’t even bother serving dinner because there is no one in the building.”

He earlier claimed that Twitter had spent $400 per lunch served over the past 12 months.

The billionaire is seeking to cut costs after buying Twitter in a $44bn deal, which piled the company with debt. High debt costs and a growing advertiser boycott since he took charge have put huge pressure on the business, with Mr Musk warning last week that bankruptcy was not out of the question.

Separately at a conference in Bali, Mr Musk said he was working “the absolute most amount ... from morning til night, seven days a week”. Alongside Twitter, Mr Musk is also chief executive of electric car maker Tesla and rocket company Spacex, and founder of tunnelling business the Boring Company.

He added: “I have too much work on my plate that is for sure.”

The businessman has cut back on perks, such as company-wide working from home, since taking charge and is demanding staff return to the office for at least 40 hours a week.

The decision to ditch free meals for staff came hours after Mr Musk reportedly laid off 4,400 of Twitter’s 5,500 contractors, including some who monitor online safety.

Last weekend, Twitter slashed the number of outsourced workers who handle reports of potentially hateful Tweets, according to technology newsletter Platformer. Twitter laid off about half of its full-time staff earlier this month.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.