Three senior employees leave Twitter voluntarily

Life at Twitter, Inc. seems to be full of uncertainties now. It started with Elon Musk offering to buy the company, the board adopting the poison pill, a sudden announcement accepting to sell the company to Musk for $44 billion, and Musk saying the bid is “on hold” due to issues with fake or spam accounts. Of course, with these events, you can expect some big changes in the company. One of the recent ones is the departure of three relevant senior employees of Twitter.

The three employees leaving Twitter include Max Schmeiser, head of data science; Ilya Brown, VP of product management; and Katrina Lane, VP of Twitter Service. According to the internal memos described to Bloomberg, the exit is voluntary, though the real reason behind it is not specified. Still, it is no secret that many Twitter employees don’t like the idea of having Musk as the new owner of the company. With this and the fact that the said three individuals used to own three of some of the most significant positions on Twitter, we can’t help but think that Musk’s anticipated takeover of the company must be a factor.

Twitter, on the other hand, confirmed the report to Techcrunch. “We continue to be focused on providing the very best experience to the people on Twitter. We can confirm that they will be leaving Twitter for new opportunities. We are thankful for all of their hard work and leadership,” the spokesperson said.

This is not the only time this Twitter lost employees this year. The head of the consumer division, Kayvon Beykpur, and the head of revenue, Bruce Falck, also left Twitter last week, but not like this recent case where Schmeiser and the two others left on their own. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal fired the two top executives. The news came out through an internal memo to Twitter employees where Agrawal stated that “it is critical to have the right leaders at the right time.” Beykpur also confirmed it through a Twitter post.

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.

— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) May 12, 2022

“Interrupting my paternity leave to share some final @twitter-related news: I’m leaving the company after over 7 years,” the post reads. “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.”

So what can you expect from me going forward? I’m still focused on doing the job, and that includes making hard decisions as needed. I will continue to embrace the deep complexities of our service and our business. And you can expect more change for the better.

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 13, 2022

Agrawal is also not safe from the changes that could happen once Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition is closed. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO said that once everything is settled, he has plans to remove Agrawal from his current position. Nonetheless, Agrawal expressed in his tweet that the actions are necessary for the social media platform’s future.

“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,” Agrawal writes. “… 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. So what can you expect from me going forward? I’m still focused on doing the job, and that includes making hard decisions as needed. I will continue to embrace the deep complexities of our service and our business. And you can expect more change for the better.”