Twitter Announces Hiring Freeze, Executive Firings Amid Elon Musk Purchase
Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter continues to make headlines as new behind-the-scenes changes at the social media company raise eyebrows.
News stories and Twitter have become familiar bedfellows in recent months, if not years. Be it a viral tweet or divisive thread, the media gaze is often shining on the social media juggernaut. Recently, the watchful eyes of the world have been on Twitter for a very different reason, Elon Musk. It’s all change at Twitter as of late and now CNN Business reports that not only is there a hiring freeze, but some senior figures have been shown the exit door.
In a statement to CNN Business on Thursday, Twitter spokesperson Catherine Hill provided the news that the business is putting a hold on new hirings except for roles of a business-critical nature. As well as this, both Twitter’s general manager of consumer, Kayvon Beykpour, and revenue product lead, Bruce Falck were given their marching orders by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. Speculation that both these decisions were a result of Elon Musk’s potential (formerly certain) arrival as Twitter overlord was put to bed by Agrawal on Friday, as the Twitter CEO claimed sole responsibility behind the action, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter.
The rollercoaster of change at Twitter started last month when Elon Musk stated his intention to acquire majority ownership of the social media platform. Shortly after declaring his intention to purchase Twitter, it was reported that Twitter had accepted Elon Musk’s offer of $44 billion to acquire the company. Now though, Elon Musk is experiencing cold feet, as it is reported that the billionaire has put the deal on hold. Why? As it turns out, Musk is cautious regarding the number of bot accounts on the site. Should evidence support claims that bot accounts do indeed make up less than 5% of all accounts on Twitter, then Musk should confidently proceed in his mega acquisition.
However, should Elon Musk confidently stride forward with his acquisition of Twitter, there are some schools of thought that suggest that it may no longer be financially viable. Vanity Fair, reports that since Musk and Twitter’s announcement, shares in both Tesla and Twitter have taken a bit of a dive, meaning that not only might Musk be unable to cough up the $44 billion offered to buy Twitter, but Twitter is now not worth this much meaning a renegotiation of terms could be in sight. Not only that but in the aforementioned CNN Business report, there is some investor skepticism that the deal can actually be pulled off. The Financial Times muse that it is in fact the financial factors at play are the true reason that Elon Musk has put his Twitter acquisition on hold.
Given the tumultuous atmosphere surrounding Twitter and Elon Musk at the present moment, and the fact that two executives have just been axed from the former, it is no wonder that the company is also putting a hold on hiring. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has had his part to play in the affairs of course, as the person behind the firing, but also seems hard at work to try and steady the ship. It would appear that putting a freeze on new hires is most definitely an important and sound decision as the ever-eventful Elon Musk/Twitter saga looks far from finished.
