Musk's Twitter deal stirs fears as his attack puts top lawyer in crosshairs
TWITTER chief executive Parag Agrawal sought to quell employee anger on Friday (29) during a company-wide meeting where employees demanded answers to how managers planned to handle an anticipated mass exodus prompted by Elon Musk.
The meeting comes after Musk, the Tesla chief executive who sealed a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company, repeatedly criticized Twitter’s content moderation practices and an Indian-origin top executive responsible for setting speech and safety policies.
At the internal town hall meeting, which was heard by Reuters, executives said the company would monitor staff attrition daily, but it was too soon to tell how the buyout deal with Musk would affect staff retention.
Musk has pitched lenders on slashing board and executive salaries but exact cost cuts remain unclear, according to sources familiar with the matter. One source said Musk would not make decisions on job cuts until he assumes ownership of Twitter.
‘I’m tired of hearing about shareholder value and fiduciary duty. What are your honest thoughts about the very high likelihood that many employees will not have jobs after the deal closes?’ one Twitter employee asked Agrawal, in a question read aloud during the meeting.
Agrawal answered that Twitter has always cared about its employees and would continue to do so.
‘I believe the future Twitter organization will continue to care about its impact on the world and its customers,’ he said.
Executives said during the meeting that the employee attrition rate has not changed compared to the levels before the news of Musk’s interest in buying the company.
In recent days, Musk has tweeted criticism of Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, who is a Twitter veteran and widely-respected across Silicon Valley. Musk’s attack triggered a barrage of online harassment targeting her.
After the meeting, a Twitter employee told Reuters there was little trust in what executives had to say.
‘The PR speak is not landing. They told us don’t leak and do a job you are proud of, but there is no clear incentive for employees to do this,’ the employee told Reuters, noting that compensation for non-executive staffers is now capped because of the deal.
Agrawal is estimated to receive $42 million if he were terminated within 12 months of a change in control at the social media company, according to research firm Equilar.
During the meeting, Agrawal urged staff to expect change in the future under new leadership, and acknowledged that the company could have performed better over the years.
‘Yes, we could have done things differently and better. I could have done things differently. I think about that a lot,’ he said.
Changing tone
Musk’s criticism of Twitter sparked a barrage of abusive tweets against Gadde on Wednesday, raising questions about his compliance with a non-disparagement agreement and the tone that the social media platform’s incoming owner will set for its users.
Musk tweeted he disagreed with a decision Twitter made in 2020 to restrict the distribution of a New York Post article about US President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. The billionaire, who has about 87 million Twitter followers, called the company’s decision to lock the Post’s account on the platform ‘incredibly inappropriate.’
Musk was responding to a tweet by a podcast host Saagar Enjeti about Gadde, who oversees Twitter’s policy and legal teams.
Enjeti described Gadde as ‘the top censorship advocate at Twitter who famously gaslit the world on Joe Rogan’s podcast and censored the Hunter Biden laptop story.’ Gadde then became the subject of a wave of personal attacks by Twitter users on the platform.
Twitter’s merger agreement with Musk stipulates that Musk can tweet about the deal while it is pending ‘so long as such Tweets do not disparage the Company or any of its Representatives.’ There was no indication that Twitter, which inked the deal with Musk after deciding his offer was attractive, would seek to cancel the sale because of his recent criticism.
Representatives for Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Gadde could not be reached for comment.
Musk also weighed in on a discussion about Twitter’s deputy general counsel, Jim Baker. In response to critical comments made in a tweet by social media personality Mike Chernovich about Baker, Musk responded: ‘Sounds pretty bad.’
Baker did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Katie Harbath, a former public policy director at Meta Platform’s Facebook who now leads consultancy Anchor Change, said Musk’s criticism of Twitter’s content moderation raises concerns that he could overrule recommendations from the team charged with setting policy and procedure.