Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on Friday has a put out a series of tweets explaining why he chose to fire two top executives at the company, stating that he would not avoid making difficult discussions about the company just because the social network was being acquired by Elon Musk.
The long post came a day after Twitter fired two senior executives and Mr Musk announced that the $44 billion deal of him acquiring the site is currently on hold as he waits for data on fake accounts.
"No one at Twitter is working just to keep the lights on. We take pride in our work. Regardless of the company's future ownership, we're here improving Twitter as a product and business for customers, partners, shareholders, and all of you," he added.
The Twitter CEO added that he "won't use the deal as an excuse to avoid making important decisions".
"So what can you expect from me going forward? I'm still focused on doing the job, and that includes making hard decisions as needed. I will continue to embrace the deep complexities of our service and our business. And you can expect more change for the better," he wrote.
He added that he will "try to bring more transparency to the work that we do". "You won't see tweets from me on the 'topic of the day' or the loudest sound bite, but rather on the ongoing, continuous, and challenging work our teams are doing to improve the public conversation on Twitter," he wrote.
He also thanked his team for staying focused and agile.
One Twitter general manager, Kayvon Beykpour, is leaving after 7 years. In a series of tweets Thursday, Beykpour said CEO Parag Agrawal “asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.”
Bruce Falck, Twitter’s revenue and product lead, was also fired, according to a tweet that has since been deleted. His Twitter bio now says “unemployed.”
“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,” Falck tweeted.
Twitter confirmed both departures and said the company is pausing most hiring and except for business critical roles. In addition, it said in a statement, “we are pulling back on non-labor costs to ensure we are being responsible and efficient.”
Beykpour was the general manager of consumer Twitter, leading design, research, product, engineering and customer service and operations teams, according to his Twitter bio. A co-founder of the live streaming app Periscope, Beykpour joined Twitter when the social media company bought his startup in 2015.
“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,” he said on Twitter.
In a memo sent to employees and confirmed by Twitter, Agrawal said Twitter has not hit growth and revenue milestones after the company began to invest “aggressively” to expand its user base and revenue.
Shares of San Francisco-based Twitter slipped 86 cents to $45.23 midday Thursday, more than 20% below Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share. (With inputs from AP)
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