“The bird is freed,” Elon Musk declared after taking over Twitter
At least four high-ranking executives at Twitter, including its CEO, have been fired after entrepreneur Elon Musk reportedly closed a $44 billion dollar buyout deal on Thursday night, according to multiple news agencies.
Much of the social media platform’s top brass were ousted on Thursday, among them CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, general counsel Sean Edgett and legal executive Vijaya Gadde. The departures were separately reported by the Washington Post, the New York Times and Bloomberg, each citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter.”
According to the Post, the former employees were “hastily shuttled” from Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters after their firing, while the Times noted that at least one executive was “escorted out” of the office by security.
Neither Twitter, Elon Musk or the four employees in question have publicly commented on the reported dismissals.
Though Elon Musk has denied reports that he plans a mass-culling of Twitter’s 7,500 workers, the billionaire previously made clear that he was unhappy with Agrawal’s performance as chief executive, saying “I don’t have confidence in management” in one business filing. Agrawal was in the position for less than one year, having taken over for CEO Jack Dorsey last November after the site’s co-founder abruptly stepped down.
As part of the multi-billion deal with Musk to buy the social media platform – which had to be completed by Friday under the terms of the agreement – Agrawal is set to receive $42 million in severance upon his termination, according to an estimate cited by Reuters.
As Twitter’s head of “legal, policy and trust,” Gadde courted controversy on more than one occasion, including a contentious appearance on the popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast alongside Dorsey. She also played a lead role in the decision to permanently ban former President Donald Trump from the site, drawing heated criticism from many conservatives.
While it was unclear for a time whether Musk would go through with plans to purchase the company, initially floated earlier this year, a lawsuit filed by Twitter ultimately helped to force the deal. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO has declared that he intends to loosen the platform’s speech policies, and claims he is not buying Twitter to “make more money,” but rather to “help humanity.”