Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tried to quell employee anger Friday during a company-wide meeting, where employees sought answers about how executives planned to handle an expected mass exit caused by Elon Musk. The meeting comes after Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer who signed a $ 44 billion deal to buy the social media company, repeatedly criticized Twitter’s content control practices and a senior executive responsible for setting reason and security policies. At the City Hall internal meeting, which was heard by Reuters, executives said the company would monitor the staff cuts daily, but it was too early to say how the takeover deal with Musk would affect staff retention. Musk has asked lenders to cut the salaries of boards and executives, but the exact cost cuts remain unclear, according to sources familiar with the matter. A source said Musk would not make job cuts until he took ownership of Twitter. “I’m tired of hearing about shareholder value and fiduciary duty. What are your honest thoughts about the very high probability that many employees will not have a job after the deal is closed?” A Twitter employee asked Agrawal, a question that was read aloud during the meeting. Agrawal replied that Twitter has always cared about its employees and will continue to do so. “I believe that the future Twitter organization will continue to be interested in its impact on the world and its customers,” he said. Executives said during the meeting that the layoff rate had not changed compared to levels before the news of Musk’s interest in buying the company. In recent days, Musk has criticized Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, who is a Twitter veteran and is widely respected throughout Silicon Valley. Musk’s attack sparked a barrage of cyberbullying targeting her. Employees also told executives they feared Musk’s erratic behavior could destabilize the Twitter business and hurt it financially as the company prepares to address the advertising world at a presentation next week in New York. “We have a short-term strategy on how to handle investment-seeking advertisers,” one employee asked. Sarah Personette, Twitter’s customer manager, said the company works to communicate frequently with advertisers and reassure them that “the way we serve our customers does not change”. After the meeting, a Twitter employee told Reuters he had little confidence in what executives had to say. “Public speaking is not landing. We were told not to leak and do a job you are proud of, but there is no clear incentive for employees to do so,” he told Reuters, noting that compensation for non-executive executives is now restricted due to the agreement. According to research firm Equilar, Agrawal is estimated to receive $ 42 million if he was fired within 12 months of the change in control of the social networking company. During the meeting, Agrawal urged staff to expect a change in the future under the new leadership and acknowledged that the company could perform better over the years. “Yes, we could have done things differently and better. I could have done it differently. I think about it a lot,” he said. Twitter declined to comment further. (Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is being published by a synergy stream.)
