In his first email to Twitter employees, Elon Musk says remote work will no longer be allowed and staff will be expected in office for at least 40 hours per week, Bloomberg News reports.

Mr Musk, who completed his $US44 billion ($67 billion) deal for the popular social media platform just two weeks ago, has since laid off half its workforce and several top executives and announced a series of actions, including charging $US8 ($12.40) for the Twitter Blue subscription.

Mr Musk also told employees that he wanted subscriptions to account for half of Twitter’s revenue, the report said, citing the email.

The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

When Twitter reopened offices in March, it had said employees could still work from home if they wanted.

Mr Musk’s move reflects policies at his other companies, SpaceX and Tesla, where he told employees to work in the office at least 40 hours a week, or leave.

“Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message,” Mr Musk wrote, before he described a dire economic climate for businesses such as Twitter, which rely almost entirely on advertising to make money.

“Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn,” Mr Musk said.

“We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription.”

In a further development, Mr Musk has tweeted the imminent demise of Legacy Blue verification checkmark.

Tweet from @elonmusk

— with AAP