Twitter CEO faces employee anger over Musk attacks in company-wide meeting

By Sheila Dang and Katie Paul

(Reuters) – Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal sought to assuage employee anger on Friday during a company-wide meeting in which employees demanded answers about how the officials planned to handle an anticipated mass exodus prompted by Elon Musk.

The meeting comes after Musk, the chief executive of Tesla who struck a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company, repeatedly criticized Twitter’s content moderation practices and a senior executive responsible for the definition of speech and security policies.

At the internal town hall meeting, which was heard by Reuters, executives said the company would monitor staff attrition daily, but it was too early to say how the takeover deal with Musk would affect staff retention .

Musk has offered lenders to dramatically cut director and executive salaries, but the exact cost cuts remain unclear, according to people familiar with the matter. A source said Musk would not make a decision on the job cuts until he owns Twitter.

“I’m tired of hearing about shareholder value and fiduciary duty. What do you honestly think about the very high likelihood that many employees will not have jobs after the transaction closes?” a Twitter employee asked Agrawal, in a question read aloud during the meeting.

Agrawal replied that Twitter has always cared about its employees and will continue to do so.

“I believe the future Twitter organization will continue to care about its impact on the world and its customers,” he said.

Executives told the meeting that the employee attrition rate had not changed from levels prior to news of Musk’s interest in buying the company.

In recent days, Musk has tweeted criticism of Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, who is a Twitter veteran and widely respected in Silicon Valley. Musk’s attack sparked a barrage of online harassment targeting her.

Employees also told executives they fear Musk’s erratic behavior could destabilize Twitter’s business and hurt it financially as the company prepares to address the advertising world in a presentation. next week in New York.

“Do we have a short-term strategy on how to deal with advertisers that attract investment,” one employee asked.

Sarah Personette, Twitter’s chief customer officer, said the company is working to communicate frequently with advertisers and reassure them “the way we serve our customers isn’t changing.”

After the meeting, a Twitter employee told Reuters there was little confidence in what the executives had to say.

“The public relations talk isn’t landing. They told us not to run away and do a job you’re proud of, but there’s no clear incentive for employees to do it,” the company said. employee at Reuters, noting that compensation for non-executive employees is now capped as a result of the agreement.

Agrawal is set to receive $42 million if he is fired within 12 months of a change in control at the social media company, according to research firm Equilar.

During the meeting, Agrawal urged staff to expect changes in the future under new management and acknowledged that the business could have performed better over the years.

“Yes, we could have done things differently and better. I could have done things differently. I think about that a lot,” he said.

Twitter declined further comment.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas and Katie Paul in Palo Alto, Calif.; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Kenneth Li and Daniel Wallis)

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