Top executives layoff and a letter to advertisers – let’s take a glimpse at the first metamorphoses happening to Twitter after the takeover
“The bird is freed,” twitted the new owner. Source: unsplash.com
After months of mind-changing, lawsuits, and intriguing statements, Elon Musk has finally closed his $44 billion deal to buy the social media service Twitter. Multiple sources have reported that the new owner has immediately fired several Twitter executives. He also hinted that the social media service will now encourage more debate and freedom of speech.
Musk is also taking the company private as part of the deal. Therefore, the company’s stock is delisting from NYSE. Crypto-friendly trading platforms like eToro and Robinhood also delisted Twitter shares from their platforms. Twitter shareholders would receive $54.2 per share on their holdings as part of the deal.
The first layoffs
Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, Twitter’s top legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett are the first employees to face layoff after the takeover. As estimated by Marketwatch, the top three executives will receive over $204 million, according to Twitter’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Agrawal, Segal and Gadde own about 1.2 million shares of Twitter. Their $65 million stake would be purchased by Musk like any other shareholder’s stock. In addition, the “Golden Parachute Compensation” clause in Twitter’s SEC filing presupposes the executives would automatically vest stock worth $119.6 million as severance along with a year’s salary and health benefits.
What about content?
The changes in management suggest further transformations of corporate vision and culture. As Mr Musk describes himself as a free-speech absolutist, he has pledged to limit content moderation on the platform, encouraging more debate.
However, the billionaire affirmed to the advertisers that Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”
He also stressed the importance of relevance in ads, calling low-relevancy ones “spam” while “highly relevant ads are actual content!”
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