Two of Twitter’s leaders are leaving as part of an uproar from top executives, according to an internal memo shared with employees on Thursday, as the company grapples with a takeover of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.
Twitter CEO Kayvon Beykpour is leaving and will be replaced by Jay Sullivan, according to the memo obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Sullivan is currently the interim general manager of consumer product. Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager of revenue, is also leaving the company.
“Having the right leaders at the right time is critical,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in the memo to staff. Sullivan’s “product vision, the ability to inspire, act quickly and drive change is what Twitter needs now and in the future.”
The memo said Twitter also paused most new hires and pulled back on discretionary spending, though the company is not currently planning any layoffs. Part of this stems from the company’s failure to meet its audience and revenue growth targets, Mr Agrawal wrote.
Twitter has been in turmoil since Mr. Musk struck a deal last month to buy the social media service for $44 billion. The billionaire, who also runs electric car maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, has said he will take Twitter private and want to improve the product. He has publicly criticized some of Twitter’s top executives, mostly for the way they moderated the speech about the service.
Mr. Musk, who is still arranging some financing for the purchase, is expected to close the deal for Twitter in the coming months. In a pitch to investors, he said he wants to quadruple Twitter’s revenue by 2028 and grow its user base to 931 million by then, from 217 million at the end of last year.
