Don’t know what direction Twitter will go in: CEO Parag Agrawal tells anxious employees

PTI, Apr 26, 2022, 1:56 PM IST

AP photo

Twitter’s India-born CEO Parag Agrawal has told worried employees that he doesn’t know “what direction this company will go in” once the whopping USD 44 billion deal, which will take the social media giant private, closes with new owner billionaire Elon Musk.

The remarks by Agrawal, who took over the helm of the social networking giant just five months ago, came during a meeting with Twitter employees on Monday afternoon after the company said it had accepted Musk’s offer to buy it for about USD 44 billion.

“It’s important to acknowledge that all of you have many different feelings about what is happening,” The New York Times newspaper quoted Agrawal as saying.

The American daily, which listened to the meeting, said that Agrawal told employees that he estimated the deal might take three to six months to complete.

“In this moment, we operate Twitter as we always have,” he said, adding that “how we run the company, the decisions we make, and the positive changes we drive, that will be on us, and under our control.” Uncertainty now hangs over the fate of Twitter employees, who voiced concern over layoffs in the wake of the acquisition by Musk. The NYT report added that it is unclear how hands-on Musk plans to be at Twitter.

“Among the unanswered issues are whom he might pick to lead the company and how involved he would be in running the service,” it said, adding that Agrawal is “expected to remain in charge at least until the deal closes.” The NYT report added that in the employee meeting, Agrawal acknowledged the uncertainty ahead.

“Once the deal closes, we don’t know what direction this company will go in,” 37-year-old Agarwal said. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Twitter Board of Directors, is expected to close in 2022, subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

On Monday, as Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor announced that Tesla and SpaceX founder Musk will acquire the company, Agrawal tweeted, “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”

The NYT report said that in the meeting with Twitter employees, Agrawal and Taylor “nodded to the emotions of the day and how workers were most likely processing the news of a sale.” Agrawal said compensation would remain largely the same under Musk but “he did not make the same assurances about Twitter’s policies and culture,” the NYT report said.

Agrawal told employees that their stock options would convert to cash when the deal closes. Employees would receive their same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalised, the NYT report said.

In response to a question about whether former President Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended from the social networking site in January 2021, would be allowed back on the platform, Agrawal said “We constantly evolve our policies.” Following the acquisition, Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, said, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”

“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential, I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” the 50-year-old Tesla CEO said.

The social media site’s co-founder Jack Dorsey, who had stepped down in November last year, had declared that his “trust” in Agrawal “as our CEO is bone deep” when he had named the India-born executive as Twitter’s new CEO on November 29, 2021.

Dorsey had said that after almost 16 years at the company he had decided it was finally time for him to leave and the first reason he had given for why it was the “right time” for his departure was “Parag becoming our CEO.”