Twitter fires two execs, freezes hiring amid Elon Musk buyout uncertainty

Twitter (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Twitter has fired two executives and placed a freeze on non-essential hiring.
CEO Parag Agrawal fired the two executives amid expectations that they too will leave the company when Elon Musk's buyout is completed.

Twitter has today fired two executives amid a shakeup that will also see the company place a freeze on hiring amid ongoing uncertainty surrounding the potential buyout by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The news started to be made public after product lead Kayvon Beykpour announced on Twitter that he had "been asked to leave" by current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. That's the same Agrawal that Musk has already made noises about replacing if and when his buyout is completed. Beykpour was on paternity leave at the time of the firing.

The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision. Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision. Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) May 12, 2022 May 12, 2022

Next, The Verge reported that Bruce Falck, general manager of revenue and the person inc charge of product in terms of business users, was also fired by the CEO. Falck confirmed the firing in a tweet that has now been deleted.

The Verge has since gotten hold of a note Agrawal sent to Twitter employees, confirming the firings while also suggesting that it was because goals had "hit intermediate milestones that enable confidence" in the company's ability to meet them.

A Twitter Spokesperson has also confirmed that Twitter has placed a freeze on hiring unless a role is deemed to be critical.

Twitter spokesperson Adrian Zamora confirmed the changes, saying in a statement to The Verge, "We can confirm that Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck are leaving Twitter. Jay Sullivan is the new GM of Bluebird and interim GM of Goldbird. Effective this week, we are pausing most hiring and backfills, except for business critical roles. We are pulling back on non-labor costs to ensure we are being responsible and efficient."

Twitter is currently in the middle of a sale to Tesla's Musk, with a total of $44 billion set to change hands — assuming the deal is completed. If it is, it's expected that Agrawal will no longer stay in place while talk of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's return could yet turn out to be on the money.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.