Two top executives have reportedly been fired by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal just weeks after the company agreed to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company.
Kayvon Beykpour, the head of product for Twitter, tweeted Thursday, “Interrupting my paternity leave to share some final [Twitter]-related news: I’m leaving the company after over 7 years.”
“The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision. Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction,” he explained.
The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision. Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) May 12, 2022
Beykpour added, “I hope and expect that Twitter’s best days are still ahead of it. Twitter is one of the most important, unique and impactful products in the world. With the right nurturing and stewardship, that impact will only grow.”
Additionally, Bruce Falck, the general manager of revenue, was let go from the company.
“I wanted to take a moment to thank all the teams and partners I’ve been lucky enough to work with during the past 5 years. Building and running these businesses is a team sport,” Falck tweeted.
He added, “I dedicate this Tweet to those engineers and thank you ALL for the opportunity to serve alongside you. It’s been awesome. There is a lot more to do so get back to work, I can’t wait to see what you build.”
I dedicate this Tweet to those engineers and thank you ALL for the opportunity to serve alongside you. It’s been awesome. There is a lot more to do so get back to work, I can’t wait to see what you build #TIF
— bruce falck (@boo) May 12, 2022
Falck reportedly tweeted that he was fired.
However, it appears he deleted that tweet.
According to The New York Times, the two executives were fired, and Agrawal said in an internal memo, “It’s critical to have the right leaders at the right time.”
He added that the company invested in growth in 2020. However, he said, “As a company, we did not hit intermediate milestones that enable confidence in these goals.”
The Times reports that most hiring has been frozen for the company.
In a statement after Twitter agreed to Musk’s offer to buy the company, he said, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” he added.
However, the Times notes that the deal is not officially complete and the billionaire could walk away from it but he would have to pay a $1 billion fee.
