Twitter fires 2 executives, adding to Elon Musk buyout turmoil
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) -- In the latest sign of turmoil inside Twitter amid Elon Musk's planned buyout of the company, the company has fired two senior executives.
A Twitter general manager, Kayvon Beykpour, is leaving after seven years.
In a series of tweets Thursday, Beykpour said that CEO Parag Agrawal "asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction."
Bruce Falck, Twitter's revenue and product lead, was also fired, according to a tweet that has since been deleted. His Twitter bio now says "unemployed."
"I dedicate this Tweet to those engineers and thank you ALL for the opportunity to serve alongside you. It's been awesome. There is a lot more to do so get back to work, I can't wait to see what you build," Falck tweeted.
Twitter confirmed both departures and said the company is pausing most hiring, except for business-critical roles.
"We are pulling back on non-labor costs to ensure we are being responsible and efficient," the company said in a statement.
Beykpour was the general manager of consumer Twitter, leading design, research, product, engineering and customer service and operations teams, according to his Twitter bio. A co-founder of the live streaming app Periscope, Beykpour joined Twitter when the social media company bought his startup in 2015. Twitter pulled the plug on the app in 2020.
"I hope and expect that Twitter's best days are still ahead of it. Twitter is one of the most important, unique and impactful products in the world. With the right nurturing and stewardship, that impact will only grow," he said on Twitter.
Beykpour did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, reached a deal last month to buy Twitter at $44 billion, intending to take it private. The purchase is expected to close sometime this year if shareholders, as well as regulators in the U.S. and other countries where Twitter does business, approve it.
The buyout has created turmoil among Twitter's workers, many of whom have interpreted Musk's vow of unleashing "free speech" on the platform as meaning that he would let abuse and harassment run rampant on the platform. Twitter said in a securities filing that it was anticipating staff departures before the merger closes.
For his part, Musk has told fellow investors he is considering layoffs as a way to cut costs at the company, Bloomberg News reported.
"I would be a little uncomfortable if I owned a business right there on Market Street and hoping that Twitter employees would be coming to buy stuff from me because it's clear that Elon Musk is not a fan of the Bay Area at this moment and I don't know how long he would stick around," said CNET correspondent Ian Sherr.