Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal acknowledged the possibility that Elon Musk’s deal to buy the company in a series of tweets this afternoon who tried to explain why he is shaking Twitter’s leadership. Agrawal said he is still “responsible for running and operating” Twitter for now and that his recent changes are intended to “build a stronger Twitter” and help control costs.
“While I expect the deal to be closed, we must be prepared for all scenarios and always do what is right for Twitter,” Agrawal said.
His comments come after Musk tweeted this morning that his $44 billion purchase from Twitter has been “temporarily put on hold” over concerns about spam and fake accounts. While it’s completely unclear whether Musk can actually pause the deal – Matt Levine at Bloomberg says putting a deal on hold is “nothing” — the comments were still enough to send Twitter’s shares plummeting about 10 percent today, raising fears that the deal would fail.
While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter. I am responsible for leading and managing Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 13, 2022
Agrawal now faces two major problems: Musk, who threatens to pull out of the deal, and his own company, both of which are now shaken by the chaotic takeover deal. and Agrawal’s recently announced staff freeze and layoff of two top product leaders.
On Thursday, Agrawal announced the departures of Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck, who led Twitter’s consumer and revenue products, respectively. He also announced that the company was “ceasing most recruits and replenishments” and sought to cut costs elsewhere.
“I will not use the deal as an excuse to avoid important decisions for the health of the company, nor will I be a leader at Twitter,” Agrawal wrote today. He said “expect more change for the better” while he remains CEO.