“While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s good for Twitter,” Agrawal said. His remarks came after Musk tweeted this morning that his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter was “on hold” due to concerns over spam and fake accounts. While it’s not entirely clear whether Musk will actually be able to suspend trading — Bloomberg’s Matt Levine said putting a deal on hold is “not a simple matter” — but the remark was still enough to send Twitter’s stock tumbling about about 100 percent today. 10%, scaring away investors worried that the deal might fall through.
Agrawal has two big problems right now. Musk has threatened to pull out of the deal, and his own company has now been shaken by a chaotic takeover deal and Agrawal’s newly announced hiring freeze and firing of two top product leaders. On Thursday, Agrawal announced the departures of Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck, who led Twitter’s consumer and revenue products, respectively. He also announced that the company was “suspending most hiring and backfilling” and trying to reduce costs in other areas.
Agrawal wrote today: “I would not use a deal as an excuse to avoid making important decisions for the health of the company, nor would any leader at Twitter. He said that while he continues to serve as CEO, “expect there to be More changes to make it better.”
