'Still Here, Proud of Staff': Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on Talks of Layoffs

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@scienceatoms)

Clearing the air about his resignation in the wake of Elon Musk acquiring Twitter, the CEO of the microblogging platform, Parag Agrawal, on Thursday, 28 April, said that he is "still here".

He also appreciated his employees, for continuing to "work with focus and urgency despite the noise."

"I took this job to change Twitter for the better, course correct where we need to, and strengthen the service. Proud of our people who continue to do the work with focus and urgency despite the noise," Agrawal wrote on Twitter.

Responding to a Twitter user who wondered whether Agrawal was fired, the CEO clarified, "nope! we're still here."

'No Plans for Layoffs at This Point': CEO

Speaking to his employees at a virtual meeting after the social media platform accepted Musk's bid, Agarwal stated that it would take at least 6 months for them to seal the deal.

"There are no plans for any layoffs at this point. Between now and closing, we will continue making decisions as we've always had, guided by the principles we've had," the CEO had been quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.

"Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go," he told his staff.

This comes after SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion earlier this week, fuelling speculations that the Twitter CEO and the current employees of the company would have to resign.

With Musk's takeover, Twitter will become a privately held company after the transaction is completed. Musk is also expected to bring in his own people, and Agrawal is suspected to be among those who go.

Agrawal, who took over the social media platform just a few months ago, after Jack Dorsey's resignation from Twitter, had been chosen unanimously by the board to replace Dorsey as CEO as the latter left after 16 years with the company he founded.

However, Musk does not appear to share Dorsey's trust in the leadership, having stated in a securities filing on 14 April that he does not have confidence in Twitter's management.