Twitter sacked two of its top executives on Friday, the latest hint of internal strife as the firm prepares to be bought out by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk. Kayvon Beykpour, the general manager of consumer Twitter, was sacked after seven years with the company, heading the design, research, product, engineering, customer support, and operations teams. CEO Parag Agrawal, according to Beykpour, asked him to resign after informing him that he wanted to take the team in a different direction.
Beykpour, a co-founder of the live broadcasting software Periscope, joined Twitter in 2015 after the social media company purchased his startup. I hope and believe that Twitter’s best days are still to come. Twitter is one of the world’s most important, original, and influential products. That impact will only expand with the correct cultivation and stewardship, he wrote on Twitter.
Twitter’s revenue and product lead, Bruce Falck, was also sacked. Unemployed is now his Twitter bio. I dedicate this Tweet to those engineers, and I thank you for allowing me to serve alongside you. It’s been fantastic. Falck tweeted, “There is a lot more to do so get back to work, I can’t wait to see what you build.”
Twitter confirmed both departures and said it is halting most hiring, except for mission-critical positions. We are also cutting non-labor costs to guarantee we are being responsible and efficient, according to a statement.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal posted a series of tweets motivating the team and also explaining why he decided to fire two top executives
“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, ” Parag Agrawal tweeted
“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,” Parag Agrawal said in his tweet.
“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.”
Agrawal said that people at the company are taking responsibility for their product. “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 said in the tweet.
“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.”
“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, ” Parag Agrawal tweeted.
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