Managers fired from Twitter amid Musk buyout turmoil
In the latest sign of turmoil inside Twitter amid Elon Musk's planned buyout of the company, a Twitter general manager, Kayvon Beykpour, is leaving after 7 years
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.In the latest sign of turmoil inside Twitter amid Elon Musk’s planned buyout of the company, a Twitter general manager, Kayvon Beykpour, is leaving after 7 years. In a series of tweets Thursday, Beykpour said 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 and 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.
“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 message for comment.
In a memo sent to employees and confirmed by Twitter, Agrawal said Twitter has not hit growth and revenue milestones after the company began to invest “aggressively” to expand its user base and revenue.
Shares of San Francisco-based Twitter slipped 86 cents to $45.23 midday Thursday. That's just 3 cents above Musk's offer price of $45.20 per share.