SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — One week after acquiring Twitter for $44 billion, Elon Musk began laying off thousands of employees starting Friday. With backlash coming from the public, Musk is defending his decision to do so.

“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” Musk tweeted Friday afternoon. “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.”

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Employees received an email Friday morning regarding their job status with the San Francisco-based company. The email sent to a laid-off employee, which was obtained by KRON4, said Friday would be their last day. However, that employee will continue to receive compensation and benefits until their separate date of Jan. 4, 2023.

Twitter’s sales department was “almost completely gutted,” one employee told KRON4.

About 3,700 jobs have been eliminated, according to The New York Times. That is roughly half of Twitter’s workforce.

This story will be updated.