Twitter’s transition from a public company led by CEO Parag Agrawal to a private company owned by billionaire Elon Musk has been far from smooth and drama-free.
Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Musk’s purchase, which is widely expected to be completed by the end of 2022, was the cause of contention among shareholders’ Twitter staff, who expressed concerns about the company’s future development.
It seems like some of those concerns were well-founded, as Agrawal told employees last week that two top Twitter execs — Kayvon Beykpour (general manager of consumers) and Bruce Falck (revenue product lead) — are leaving the company shortly after Musk himself explained that his bid for the company was “on hold” pending an accurate report on what percentage of Twitter users are actually bots and spam accounts.
Agrawal did not comment publicly on the matter at the time, but took to Twitter over the weekend to break his silence on Musk’s deal and staff departure, noting that he “expects the deal to close.”
Also see: Elon Musk said he’s not worried about Twitter employees quitting
“Changes that affect people are always tough. And some have questioned why a “lame” CEO would make these changes if we’re going to be acquired anyway. The short answer is very simple,” Agrawal wrote. “We have to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter. I am responsible for leading and running Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day.”
Explaining that Twitter is always improving regardless of high-level changes, the CEO explained why the company is now also focusing on material cost reductions across the board.
“Our industry is in a very challenging macro environment right now,” he said. “I will not use the deal as an excuse to avoid making important decisions for the health of the company, nor will any Twitter executive.”
Agrawal concluded by promising “more transparency” and “more change for the better” before thanking his team for the work done throughout the process.
Related: Twitter announces hiring freeze, ousts top executives as Elon Musk announces his bid is ‘on hold’
The Twitter CEO’s May 12 memo to employees stated that the company was going through a hiring freeze and cutting non-work-related costs, stating that while the company would not enact company-wide layoffs, Twitter executives “continue to make changes.” their organizations to improve efficiency as needed.”
This comes nearly a month after Twitter released its Q1 2022 results, which claimed that Twitter spam accounts and bots currently account for less than 5% of total MDAUs on the social media platform, a Calculation, which the company admitted “may not accurately reflect actual data number.”
This prompted Musk to pause the deal until those calculations were verified, as the Tesla CEO is keen to focus on removing and managing those accounts if and when he takes over Twitter.
“I’ve also vowed publicly that we need to get rid of the bots and the trolls and the scams and everything because that’s obviously degrading the user experience and we don’t want people being scammed out of their money and that kind of thing,” Musk said in the beginning of the month on the Met Gala red carpet. “I’m definitely on the warpath, so if someone puts a bot or troll on me, I’m definitely their enemy.”
Twitter was down over 27.5% year over year as of Monday afternoon.
Also Read: What Other CEOs Can Learn From Elon Musk’s Aggressive, Unorthodox Twitter Takeover