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Parag Agrawal ‘escorted out’ of Twitter headquarters after Musk takeover: Report
Elon Musk had accused the top leadership at Twitter of misleading him and investors over the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.
After Elon Musk completed his $44 billion purchase deal of Twitter late on Thursday, its top executives were fired and escorted out of the social media company's San Francisco headquarters, according to several media reports. The Twitter executives who were fired include CEO Parag Agrawal, legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett. (Also Read | Trump's Twitter account to be restored after Elon Musk takeover?)
Musk had accused the top leadership at Twitter of misleading him and investors over the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.
“Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter's San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out,” reported Reuters quoting sources.
“At least one of the executives who was fired was escorted out of Twitter’s office,” a New York Times report said.
Twitter, Musk and the executives are yet to issue an official statement on the firings.
Musk, however, tweeted “The bird is freed” in an obvious reference to the completion of $44 billion deal.
Agrawal had clashed with Musk in recent months about the takeover amid a remarkable saga, full of twists and turns, that sowed doubt over whether the tech billionaire would complete the deal. Musk complained publicly that he believed Twitter's spam accounts were significantly higher than the company's estimate. As per Twitter's regulatory filings, the company said the spam accounts on the platform were less than 5% of its monetizable daily active users.
Musk gave notice to Twitter on July 8 that he was terminating their deal on the grounds that Twitter misled him about the bots and did not cooperate with him. Four days later, Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the deal.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thanked Agrawal, Segal and Gadde for their "massive contribution" to the business.
"Thank you to @paraga, @vijaya , and @nedsegal for the collective contribution to Twitter. Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each!" Stone tweeted.
(With inputs from Reuters, PTI)
