Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal is “ready to go to war” to get Elon Musk to go through with his $44 billion acquisition of the social media giant amid reports the deal may be in jeopardy over its handling of spam and “bot” accounts from the site.
Parag Agrawal, who took over as CEO last fall after company co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down from the role, is reportedly starting to “struggle” after Musk repeatedly criticized the company for committing to buy and to become private.
“Parag wants to come back more and is more aggressive internally,” a former Twitter executive told the Financial Times.
“It looks like Twitter is ready to go to war to get this deal done.”
Agrawal was to receive a $42 million payout under the current terms of the buyout. As with a handful of other Twitter executives, Agrawal’s payout will be triggered by a so-called “change of control” clause in their contracts, which kicks in if either is terminated within 12 months of taking over the new ownership. the helm of the company.
Shares of Twitter fell nearly 4% in the first hour of trading on Wall Street on Friday. The company’s stock was hovering around $37.25 a share — well below the $54.20 a share price at which Musk agreed to buy out shareholders and take the company private.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Musk, the Tesla chief executive whose fortune is estimated at $223 billion, making him the world’s richest man, may withdraw from the agreement because he believes there is not enough information about to determine the levels of fake accounts.
Musk, who has pledged to buy Twitter for $44 billion, is critical of the company’s management.AP
Musk has argued that Twitter’s spam accounts cannot be verified — even after the social media giant in early June caved in to Musk’s demands to provide information on hundreds of millions of daily tweets.
It was also reported by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that Twitter has laid off a third of its talent recruitment team.
The company recently announced a hiring freeze as the tech sector remains in the throes of an economic downturn.
Agrawal, the 38-year-old Indian-born Stanford graduate, spent four years as Twitter’s chief technology officer before succeeding Dorsey.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal is reportedly eager to get back at Elon Musk. Getty Images
According to the FT, his lack of leadership experience and tendency to avoid public appearances have fueled skepticism among board members that he has what it takes to take on the charismatic Musk.
Since the $44 billion deal was announced earlier this year, Musk has publicly blasted Twitter for its content moderation policy, as well as its alleged failure to adequately curb fake accounts.
Privately, Agrawal has been much more aggressive in rejecting these claims, the FT reports.
The public perception of Agrawal is that he is more of an “unknown quantity”.
“Parag feels more like an engineer put in charge of a product than someone who has a vision,” an advertising agency executive told the FT.
Twitter also laid off a third of its talent recruitment team.AP
“Twitter needs a leader who will step up and make Twitter a market presence.”
In May, Agrawal took to Twitter to defend the company’s efforts to root out spam and bot accounts — prompting Musk to respond with emojis.
Despite their differences, Agrawal and Musk remain on cordial terms, according to the FT. The two men reportedly agreed on the need to diversify the company’s revenue streams as well as reduce its content moderation policy.
Twitter, possibly anticipating Musk’s news, held a call early Thursday with select members of the media in which it said it was removing 1 million spam accounts a day.
The company also reiterated that fake users represent less than 5% of its user base, it said in its quarterly earnings.
Musk is scheduled to speak Saturday at the Allen & Co. conference. Sun Valley, Idaho, where he was expected to talk about the Twitter deal, a source said.
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