Parag Agrawal, Twitter's CEO, had spent the past six weeks steering the company through a $44 billion sale to Elon Musk, the world's richest person
Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco, April 24, 2022. Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief executive, is grappling with a takeover where nobody “would want to be in those shoes.” (Jim Wilson/The New York Times)
SAN FRANCISCO — At a virtual meeting for Twitter executives last week, Parag Agrawal admitted he was exhausted.
Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, had spent the past six weeks steering the company through a $44 billion sale to Elon Musk, the world’s richest person. Some employees were rebelling openly against their new owner, who had criticized the social media service and its executives. Others were upset at Agrawal’s recent corporate shake-ups. And Musk appeared likely to force Agrawal from his job.
At the meeting, Agrawal was “raw” about Twitter’s issues and the hurricane of attention over Musk’s deal, two people with knowledge of the event said. But he also conveyed a sense of acceptance of his situation and said he would move forward with his plans for the company, they said.
Agrawal touched on areas that he said were key to improve upon: Twitter’s core product, the company’s depth of technology, the business, free speech across the platform and, importantly, what leadership looks like. Some executives left the meeting energized, the people said.
It was what Agrawal could do given the circumstances. That’s because of all the top jobs in tech, the 38-year-old is in what may be the most impossible one.
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