Twitter's new billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, on Monday pledged roughly $44 billion to buy the social platform and take it private. However, uncertainty now hangs over the fate of Twitter employees, who voiced concern over layoffs in the wake of the acquisition by Musk. According to a report with the New York Times, it is unclear how hands-on Musk plans to be at Twitter.
'Among the unanswered issues are whom he might pick to lead the company and how involved he would be in running the service', the report stated, adding that Twitter’s India-born CEO Parag Agrawal is 'expected to remain in charge at least until the deal closes'.
Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.
The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Twitter Board of Directors, is expected to close in 2022, subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
What Parag Agrawal told Twitter employees
The report said that in a meeting with Twitter employees, Agrawal “nodded to the emotions of the day and how workers were most likely processing the news of a sale.”
Agrawal said compensation would remain largely the same under Musk but “he did not make the same assurances about Twitter’s policies and culture,” the report said.
Agrawal told employees that their stock options would convert to cash when the deal closes. Employees would receive the same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalised, the report further stated.
"Don't know what direction this company will go in," Agrawal was overheard telling his employees.
“It’s important to acknowledge that all of you have many different feelings about what is happening,” the report quoted Agrawal as saying.
The American daily, which listened to the meeting, said that Agrawal told employees that he estimated the deal might take three to six months to complete.
“In this moment, we operate Twitter as we always have," he said, adding that “how we run the company, the decisions we make, and the positive changes we drive — that will be on us, and under our control.”
Twitter's co-founder Jack Dorsey, who had stepped down in November last year, had declared that his “trust" in Agrawal “as our CEO is bone deep” when he had named the India-born executive as Twitter’s new CEO on November 29, 2021.
Dorsey had said that after almost 16 years at the company he had decided it was finally time for him to leave and the first reason he had given for why it was the “right time” for his departure was “Parag becoming our CEO."
(With inputs from agencies)
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