Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal Explains Why Top Executives Were Sacked

The Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, Parag Agrawal has explained that two of the company’s top executives were fired to cut costs for the company and mitigate the impacts of a challenging economy. This is even as he insisted that he would continue to do the right thing and take tough decisions despite an ongoing deal to sell Twitter to Elon Musk.

Although Elon Musk yesterday announced that the deal has been put on hold ‘temporarily’, Agrawal said he expects the deal to close, but he would continue to do what is right to prepare for all scenarios.

Twitter’s GM of Consumer and Head of Product Keyvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck, who led the revenue side of the company, were asked to go on Thursday.

What the Twitter CEO is saying

Agrawal in a Twitter thread explaining his recent decisions said: “A lot has happened over the past several weeks. I’ve been focused on the company and haven’t said much publicly during this time, but I will now. We announced changes to our leadership team and operations yesterday. Changes impacting people are always hard. And some have been asking why a ‘lame-duck’ CEO would make these changes if we’re getting acquired anyway. The short answer is very simple:

“While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter. I’m accountable for leading and operating Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day. 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.”

People have also asked: why manage costs now vs after close? Our industry is in a very challenging macro environment – right now. I won’t use the deal as an excuse to avoid making important decisions for the health of the company, nor will any leader at Twitter,” he added.

Agrawal said he is 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. I will also 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 said.

In case you missed it

• Twitter relieved its GM of Consumer, Keyvon Beykpour, of his job as part of a major shake-up in the company heralding Elon Musk’s takeover.
• A disappointed Beykpour who took to the social medial platform to announce the termination of his appointment said he got the shocking message while still on paternity leave.