Twitter has let go of general manager Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck, the revenue product lead, ahead of the company’s possible acquisition by Elon Musk.
Beykpour, who joined Twitter through the 2015 acquisition of his company, Periscope, said the decision came about as Parag Agrawal, chief executive of Twitter, was looking for new leadership.
“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,” Beykpour wrote on Twitter Thursday.
Falck also wrote on Twitter that he was “fired” by Agrawal.
“I wanted to take a moment to thank all the teams and partners I’ve been lucky enough to work with during the past 5 years. Building and running these businesses is a team sport,” Falck wrote.
A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York Times first reported news of Beykpour’s departure, saying that Twitter has also stopped most of its new hiring, but did not expect layoffs.
In late April, Twitter agreed to be acquired by Musk for about $44 billion. The merger is still pending approval from regulatory agencies and shareholders.
In a filing related to the acquisition, Twitter wrote that one risk to the successful close of the acquisition would be the “departure of employees, prior to the closing of the merger.”
