Senior Twitter staff fired in ‘change of direction’ ahead of Elon Musk’s takeover

Elon Musk is expected to be interim chief executive of Twitter before he chooses a replacement

Twitter has fired two high-profile employees, its head of Consumer Product and head of Revenue, in a shock move.

Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck have left the social media company, a person with knowledge of their departure told The Independent.

Mr Beykpour, who headed Periscope, Spaces, and Fleets during his seven-year tenure at the social media company, was fired by current chief executive Parag Agrawal while on paternity leave.

In an email to staff, Mr Agrawal said that changes were happening to Twitter - some that were in their control, and others that were not. He added that these changes would be hard but they were right for the company, and that it was vital to have correct leadership in this moment.

“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”, Mr Beykpour tweeted.

“Our team has shipped bold and exciting new evolutions to the product (like Spaces, Communities, Topics, Creator tools, Safety controls) at a much much faster pace than anytime over the last decade.”

Jay Sullivan will become the interim head of product at Twitter, The Independent has been told.

The move comes ahead of billionaire Elon Musk taking over the company in a $44 billion deal. It is expected that Mr Musk would become chief executive of Twitter once the deal is secure between three to six months from now.

It is predicted that Mr Agrawal will leave the company for Mr Musk’s chosen replacement, as Mr Agrawal’s future at Twitter has been uncertain since Mr Musk’s offer to buy the company was accepted. Mr Musk has publicly criticised Twitter’s management on a number of occasions, and is reported to have a replacement chief executive lined up once the deal is complete.

Mr Musk has also suggested there could be worker layoffs to cut costs at Twitter, according to reports. Mr Musk has not responded to The Independent’s multiple requests for comment.

Neither Twitter nor Mr Falck responded to The Independent’s request for comment before time of publication.