Twitter Chief Government Officer Parag Agrawal is amongst executives planning to depart as Elon Musk completes his $44 billion deal to take over the social community, in accordance with folks aware of the matter.
Additionally leaving are Vijaya Gadde, the pinnacle of authorized, coverage and belief; Chief Monetary Officer Ned Segal, who joined Twitter in 2017; and Sean Edgett, who has been normal counsel at Twitter since 2012, in accordance with folks aware of the matter, who declined to be named as a result of the knowledge isn’t public.
Twitter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Agrawal stepped into the CEO function in November, when co-founder Jack Dorsey unexpectedly resigned. Agrawal had been at Twitter for nearly a decade, most not too long ago as chief expertise officer, however his run as CEO was rapidly disrupted by Musk’s arrival as a significant shareholder and more and more vocal antagonist of its present management.
After Musk confirmed up, it turned clear that Agrawal was unlikely to maintain his job. “I don’t believe in administration,” Musk mentioned in a single early submitting in regards to the deal, and the 2 executives exchanged some public swipes. In Could, Musk replied to a Twitter thread from Agrawal defending the corporate’s consumer metrics by tweeting again a poop emoji.
Textual content messages unveiled throughout the lawsuit present that the 2 males had a contentious trade early on throughout the deal course of after Musk requested his followers whether or not Twitter was “dying.”
Agrawal confronted him through textual content. “You’re free to tweet ‘is twitter dying?’ or the rest about Twitter,” he wrote on April 9, “however it’s my accountability to inform you that it’s not serving to me make Twitter higher within the present context.” Musk fired again, “What did you get completed this week?” After which: “I’m not becoming a member of the board it is a waste of time.”
The next week, in messages with a pal, Musk mocked Agrawal for being on trip in Hawaii throughout deal negotiations. “Shouldn’t he be in a struggle room proper now?!?” investor Jason Calacanis messaged Musk. “Does doing occasional zoom calls whereas consuming fruity cocktails on the 4 Seasons depend?” Musk replied.
Efforts by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to reconcile Musk, a longtime Dorsey pal, and Agrawal after the deal was introduced additionally ended poorly. “No less than it turned clear that you could’t work collectively,” Dorsey messaged Musk after a bunch name. “That was clarifying.”
Agrawal received’t be leaving empty handed. As a part of the deal, the CEO will vest 100% of his unvested fairness awards, in accordance with a submitting. Analysis agency Equilar estimated meaning he’ll make an estimated $42 million, Reuters reported.
As Twitter’s head of authorized and coverage points, Gadde has overseen the creation and enforcement of guidelines for lots of of tens of millions of web customers, together with distinguished ones which are topic to looser content material limitations beneath the corporate’s exemptions for newsworthy posts or world leaders’ communications. In buying Twitter, Musk has promised to show it right into a less-restrictive platform free of charge speech, a transfer he has mentioned is “important to a functioning democracy.”
Gadde was hit with a spate of on-line abuse earlier this yr after Musk publicly criticized content-related choices at Twitter. The corporate completely banned former US president Donald Trump in January 2021 following his supporters’ assault on the Capitol. Musk’s statements main as much as his buy of the social-media firm have led many to count on the billionaire will restore Trump’s account and reinstate different customers who’ve been blocked for breaking guidelines on offensive or harmful content material.
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