Tesla CEO Elon Musk has finally taken over as Twitter boss and his first job was to reportedly fire Indian-origin CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, the company’s policy chief Vijaya Gadde and others.
According to a CNBC report citing sources on Friday, Agrawal and Segal have left the company’s San Francisco headquarters and will not be returning.
Gadde, the head of legal policy, trust, and safety was also fired, The Washington Post reported.
Sean Edgett, Twitter’s general counsel, and chief customer officer Sarah Personette were also fired by Musk, reports Insider.
The executives Musk fired have received handsome payouts.
Agrawal received $38.7 million, Segal got $25.4 million, Gadde got $12.5 million, and Personette received $11.2 million, according to Insider.
Musk’s entrepreneur friend Jason Calacanis said: “Day zero. Sharpen your blades boys.”
“Seems like the twitter servers are still up and running!” Calacanis added.
“Twitter CEO is my dream job,” he had told Musk earlier.
Musk on Thursday told advertisers why he is finally acquiring Twitter, telling them that he wants the platform to be the most respected advertising platform in the world where users can see movies or play video games, ranging from all ages to mature.
In a letter to advertisers, he said that Twitter cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.
“In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature,” Musk wrote to his more than 110 million followers.
He said that the reason he acquired Twitter is because “it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence”.
He visited Twitter headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday, with a kitchen sink in his hands.