Elon Musk plans to lay off most of Twitter's workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report by The Washington Post.

Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75 per cent of Twitter's employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to the report published on Thursday. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.