Twitter has decided to lay off two senior executives, as well as to suspend all hiring, while the social network is being bought by Elon Musk for 44 billion dollars.
Upheaval on the side of Twitter
Kayvon Beykpour, consumer manager, and Bruce Falck, revenue-generating product manager, are leaving Twitter. The first, who notably supervised the engineering, design and customer service teams, stressed on the social network that it was not about his decision.
Parag Agrawal, the boss of Twitter, “asked me to leave after letting me know he wanted to take the team in a different direction”said the senior official in a tweet, recalling in passing that he was on paternity leave.
Turns out Parag Agrawal responded to the two managers he has just fired. Both posts are classic, however, with the leader emphasizing the impact the pair have had on the company.
You’ve had such a huge impact. I have so much respect and admiration for what you have accomplished and am so glad I got to work closely with you all these years.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 12, 2022
Thanks for everything you have done for Twitter – your impact will be felt for a long time, by many people. On a personal note, it has been so great to see how you have always led with your heart, with relentless focus, and a deep care for our teams.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 13, 2022
In the aftermath, Twitter made the decision to suspend new hires. The social network, however, indicates that it is ready to welcome new employees for critical roles in the company. “We are reducing non-wage costs to ensure we are accountable and efficient”said a spokesperson.
Changes since Elon Musk’s takeover bid
The social network’s board of directors accepted Elon Musk’s $44 billion buyout offer at the end of April. The richest man in the world wants to make it a bastion of freedom of expression, suggesting for example on Tuesday that he was ready to lift the permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s account decided after the attack on Capitol Hill. On the very functioning of the company, he also mentioned the end of spam and advertising, open source algorithms and the diversification of sources of income.
He claimed in an investor presentation that he could grow the company’s revenue fivefold by 2028, drastically increasing subscription revenue and pushing the number of active users to 217 million. end of 2021 to 931 million in 2028.
