Twitter Axes Two Top Executives Ahead of Elon Musk Deal Close

Twitter’s CEO pushed out two top execs on Thursday as the social media giant grapples with changing ownership and market volatility.

The company’s general manager of consumer Kayvon Beykpour will be replaced by Jay Sullivan, the current vice president of consumer product, according to an internal memo obtained by The New York Times. Twitter’s revenue product lead Bruce Falck was also axed, the report said.

Beykpour, who spent more than seven years at the company and joined during Twitter’s acquisition of his live-streaming startup Periscope, learned he’d lost his job during his paternity leave. “The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision,” he said in a tweet Thursday. “[CEO] Parag [Agrawal] asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.”

Falck also confirmed on Twitter that he had been let go. “I wanted to take a moment to thank all the teams and partners I’ve been lucky enough to work with during the past 5 years. Building and running these businesses is a team sport,” he tweeted. His bio now reads: “unemployed.”

It’s the latest personnel change-up at the blue bird company. Significantly, its co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO and chairman in November, handing the reins to then-CTO Agrawal.

“I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it,” Dorsey said in an email to Twitter staff at the time. “There aren’t many founders that choose their company over their own ego. I know we’ll prove this is the right move.”

More heads could roll soon. The world’s richest man Elon Musk is preparing to take the social media company private in a wild $44 billion deal, and he’s reportedly proposed cutting jobs and slicing executive pay. Agrawal told staff on Thursday that Twitter is freezing hiring and rescinding some standing job offers, per Bloomberg.

Dig deeper into Twitter’s current org chart:

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