Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced a hiring freeze ahead of Elon Musk‘s $44billion takeover, while two members of the social media giant’s top brass have been asked to leave.
Agrawal, 37, announced that Twitter will not be hiring new employees for the time being and may take back offers already out to prospective hires, according to an internal memo.
On Thursday, head of consumer product Kayvon Beykpour announced he would be leaving the company, saying Agrawal ‘asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.’
Beykpour had been on paternity leave for some time. He had been with the company for seven years.
Interim GM of consumer product Jay Sullivan will replace him.
He will be followed out the door by Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager for revenue.
Parag Agrawal (pictured) became Twitter CEO after co-founder Jack Dorsey, 45, stepped down via email, which he later tweeted
On Thursday, head of consumer product Kayvon Beykpour announced he would be leaving the company, saying Agrawal ‘asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction’
Beykpour will be followed out the door by Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager for revenue
‘It’s critical to have the right leaders at the right time,’ Agrawal said in the memo to staff.
He added that Sullivan’s ‘product vision, ability to inspire, move quickly and drive change is what Twitter needs now, and in the future.’
Things have been chaotic at Twitter since the company announced it was going to sell to Tesla CEO Elon Musk for $44billion.
Musk is set to cancel a $6.25billion loan to help with the buyout linked to his Tesla shares, now having the equity and preferred financing for the buyout, according to Bloomberg Law,
Employees have lashed out in recent weeks moaning about Musk’s purchase of their employer, with many claiming that the entrepreneur’s hardcore defense of free speech is ‘harmful.’
The deal is likely to be completed within the next six months, and has sparked widespread speculation Musk is planning a cull of 1,000 existing Twitter staff to boost profits.
Within the next three years, Musk anticipates making thousands of new hires, swelling the ranks to around 11,000 employees, up from 7,500 currently.
Things have been chaotic at Twitter since the company announced it was going to sell to Tesla CEO Elon Musk for $44billion
Much of the new talent is likely to be in the field of engineering.
Numbers at the company would fluctuate rising to 9,225 employees this year before falling to 8,332 in 2023. Then adding a further 2,700 workers by 2025.
On a company level, Musk has previously floated the idea of closing down the San Francisco headquarters in order to save money and that board members may also not receive a salary, shaving off another $3 million in expenses.
He has mooted turning the vast HQ into a homeless shelter in the vagrant and crime-plagued city, although it remains unclear whether Musk was joking.
The changes Musk makes are part of his plan to increase Twitter‘s annual revenue by five times current levels to $26.4 billion by 2028, up from $5 billion last year.
Advertising on the platform is set to fall to 45% of total revenue under Musk, down from about 90% in 2020.
By 2028, he plans for ads to generate $12 billion in revenue in 2028, while subscriptions are expected to pull in another $10 billion, according to the report.
Musk is said to favor a subscription-based model over advertiser funding, as it would make Twitter less beholden to advertiser pressure.
He has even suggested users could pay with cryptocurrency, including joke currency Dogecoin which Musk has long had an affection for.
Other revenue would come from businesses such as data licensing.
Musk has also tweeted about potentially monetizing tweets, although he has not provided specific details.
Musk also plans to see Twitter’s cash flow rise to $3.2 billion in 2025 and $9.4 billion in 2028.
Numbers at the company would fluctuate rising to 9,225 employees this year before falling to 8,332 in 2023. Then adding a further 2,700 workers by 2025.
Musk anticipates Twitter’s total number of users will grow from 217 million at the end of last year to nearly 600 million in 2025 and 931 million six years from now
Elon Musk plans to quintuple Twitter’s revenue to $26.4 billion by 2028 In a pitch deck Musk claimed he would increase Twitter’s annual revenue to $26.4 billion by 2028, up from $5 billion last year
This is a developing story.
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