CEM REPORT | Since its recent acquisition shake-up by Elon Musk, social media company Twitter has made changes in several areas. The recent of such changes is the sack of its top management staff.
Keyvon Beykpour, General Manager of Consumer has been relieved of duty. He got his notice while on paternity leave.
The former GM shaken by the notice took to his twitter handle to express his disappointment stated the notice came after the CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal told him of plans to take the team in a different direction. He added that he didn’t plan on leaving the company.
“Interrupting my paternity leave to share some final @twitter-related news: I’m leaving the company after over 7 years.”
“The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision. Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction”.
Beykpour took solace in his accomplishment while with the organisation adding that the organisation will continue to grow with the right nurturing from its present management.
“While I’m disappointed, I take solace in a few things: I am INSANELY proud of what our collective team achieved over the last few years and my own contribution to this journey.”
“Twitter’s DAU (daily active users) has grown by over 87% since Q2 2018 and our team has shipped bold and exciting new evolutions to the product (like Spaces, Communities, Topics, Creator tools, Safety controls) at a much much faster pace than any time over the last decade.”
“I’m proud that we changed the perception around Twitter’s pace of innovation, and proud that we shifted the culture internally to make bigger bets, move faster, and eliminate sacred cows.
“To the hard-working (current and former) Tweeps out there who made all this happen: Thank you for pouring your heart and soul into this place. I hope and expect that Twitter’s best days are still ahead of it. Twitter is one of the most important, unique, and impactful products in the world. With the right nurturing and stewardship, that impact will only grow,” Beykpour added.
Also Head of Product Bruce Falck was also relieved of his post.
Explaining the sack, Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, Parag Agrawal said the sack was to cut costs for the company and mitigate the impacts of a challenging economy. He added that despite the tough decision to sell companies controlling shares to Elon Musk, he would continue to do the right thing for the company.
Despite Elon Musk announcement that the deal has been put on temporary hold, Agrawal said he expects the deal to close, adding that he would continue to do what is right to prepare for all scenarios.
“A lot has happened over the past several weeks. I’ve been focused on the company and haven’t said much publicly during this time, but I will now. We announced changes to our leadership team and operations yesterday. Changes impacting people are always hard. And some have been asking why a ‘lame-duck’ CEO would make these changes if we’re getting acquired anyway. The short answer is very simple:
“While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter. I’m accountable for leading and operating Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day. No one at Twitter is working just to keep the lights on. We take pride in our work. Regardless of the company’s future ownership, we’re here improving Twitter as a product and business for customers, partners, shareholders, and all of you.”
“People have also asked: why manage costs now vs after close? Our industry is in a very challenging macro environment – right now. I won’t use the deal as an excuse to avoid making important decisions for the health of the company, nor will any leader at Twitter,”
“I will continue to embrace the deep complexities of our service and our business. And you can expect more change for the better. I will also try to bring more transparency to the work that we do. You won’t see tweets from me on the ‘topic of the day’ or the loudest sound bite, but rather on the ongoing, continuous, and challenging work our teams are doing to improve the public conversation on Twitter,” he said.
According to Nairametrics, Beykpour became Twitter’s Head of Consumer Product in July 2018. He then moved up to GM, Consumer in December 2021, a role where he led all teams across Product, Engineering, Design, Research, and Customer Service & Operations teams that worked on Twitter’s consumer apps.
