Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal suggested that the company is making staffing changes in anticipation that the $44 billion deal to be acquired by Elon Musk may fall through.
Agrawal’s statement comes after the company parted ways yesterday with Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s general manager, and Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager for revenue.
“Some have been asking why a ‘lame-duck’ CEO would make these changes if we’re getting acquired anyway,” he wrote. “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’s remark about being a “lame duck” CEO comes as Musk is expected to be the company’s CEO for a period of time if and when the sale is finalized.
“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 continued. “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.”
Musk tweeted earlier in the day that the Twitter deal was “temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.”
“Still committed to acquisition,” he added.
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