Breaking: Twitter CEO Fires Two Execs, Cuts Costs Ahead of Elon Musk Takeover
Social media giant Twitter will stop hiring new employees and implement cost-cutting measures, according to an internal memo from Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal that was obtained by Bloomberg.
Additionally, two of Twitter’s top executives are leaving the company ahead of Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk’s takeover of the corporation, the outlet reported.
The internal memo Thursday said the company is going to freeze hiring and might withdraw the offers it had already sent out.
However, it laid out certain exceptions for business-critical roles, which it said will be decided on by the company’s leadership.
The memo also said Twitter will slash travel, consulting and marketing expenses, according to Bloomberg.
“At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the decision was made to invest aggressively to deliver big growth in audience and revenue, and as a company we did not hit intermediate milestones that enable confidence in these goals,” Agrawal wrote in the memo.
“In order to responsibly manage the organization as we sharpen our roadmaps and our work, we need to continue to be intentional about our teams, hiring and costs,” he said.
The CEO said global issues such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19-induced supply chain crisis have negatively affected Twitter’s business and continue to hurt the company, according to Bloomberg.
Twitter is not considering company-wide job cuts, however, with Agrawal saying that “leaders will continue making changes to their organizations to improve efficiencies as needed.”
In addition to the cost cuts, Kayvon Beykpour, head of consumer product, and Bruce Falck, general manager for revenue, will be leaving the company, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Jay Sullivan will replace the leaving executives as the head of product and interim head of revenue, according to the outlet.
“It’s critical to have the right leaders at the right time,” Agrawal wrote in a memo to staff, according to the Times.
Agrawal said Sullivan’s “product vision, ability to inspire, move quickly and drive change is what Twitter needs now, and in the future.”
Sources told the Times that in recently held team and company-wide meetings, Sullivan had stressed the need to reorient the company’s focus to fewer projects.
Beykpour indicated in tweets Thursday that his departure wasn’t voluntary.
“The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision,” he said.
“Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction,” Beykpour said.
“While I’m disappointed, I take solace in a few things: I am INSANELY proud of what our collective team achieved over the last few years, and my own contribution to this journey,” he said.
While I’m disappointed, I take solace in a few things: I am INSANELY proud of what our collective team achieved over the last few years, and my own contribution to this journey.
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) May 12, 2022
Falck, meanwhile, thanked those with whom he worked over the past five years.
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
Musk is expected to secure the financing needed to close the deal to take over the company in the coming months.
In addition to its infamous censorship policies, one of the areas where he criticized Twitter was the way its leadership ran the company.
Musk has said the company has “too many engineers not doing enough.”
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