Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Responds to Elon Musk Putting Deal on Hold

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has released a statement regarding the pause in Elon Musk‘s acquisition of the platform, sharing that while he believes the deal will push through, they will still “need to be prepared for all scenarios.”

In a series of tweets, Agrawal addressed the firing of two senior execs — reportedly Twitter’s general manager of consumer products Kayvon Beykpour and general manager of revenue Bruce Falck — following Musk’s public statements about the platform. The CEO explained that despite the possibility of the buyout, these decisions were made for the future of Twitter. “While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter,” he tweeted. “I’m accountable for leading and operating Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day.”

Agrawal added that he and the future leaders of Twitter will not let the deal be “an excuse to avoid making important decisions for the health of the company,” and that he will “continue to embrace the deep complexities of our service and our business. And you can expect more change for the better.” He also promised more transparency, telling users that he will be open about “the ongoing, continuous, and challenging work our teams are doing to improve the public conversation on Twitter.”

Musk put the $44 billion USD deal on hold after he raised concerns over the amount of fake Twitter users. “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” he tweeted, causing Twitter’s stock price to plummet by 20% during pre-market trading.

While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter. I’m accountable for leading and operating Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day.

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 13, 2022

People have also asked: why manage costs now vs after close? Our industry is in a very challenging macro environment – right now. I won’t use the deal as an excuse to avoid making important decisions for the health of the company, nor will any leader at Twitter.

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 13, 2022

I will also try to bring more transparency to the work that we do. You won’t see tweets from me on the ‘topic of the day’ or the loudest sound bite, but rather on the ongoing, continuous, and challenging work our teams are doing to improve the public conversation on Twitter.

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 13, 2022

Because I mentioned the deal in this thread, he’re the obligatory legalese for your reading pleasure https://t.co/Zf5Q84j6AT

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 13, 2022

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