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Bulletins

Twitter bleeds more top talent in the midst of Musk acquisition

Twitter executives are dropping like flies.

Twitter HQ

Three senior employees are leaving the company in the midst of ongoing Elon Musk acquisition drama.

Photo: Bloomberg

Top Twitter executives are fleeing the company in a sign that everything is fine (right?). Three senior employees are leaving the company in the midst of ongoing Elon Musk acquisition drama, according to Bloomberg.

Ilya Brown, the company's vice president of Product Management, Katrina Lane, vice president of Twitter Service, and Max Schmeiser, head of Data Science, are all leaving Twitter to take new opportunities elsewhere, the company told CNBC. All three chose to exit on their own, according to Bloomberg.

Twitter told Bloomberg: "We are thankful for all of their hard work and leadership. We continue to be focused on providing the very best experience to the people on Twitter.” Twitter did not respond to request for comment from Protocol.

The departures follow Kayvon Beykpour, head of Twitter's consumer division, being fired from the company on May 12, and Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager for revenue, being ousted from the company on the same day. Twitter also froze hiring and implemented budget cuts last week, telling employees in an email that “leaders will continue making changes to their organizations to improve efficiencies as needed," Bloomberg reported.

In a thread on Twitter, Beykpour said that leaving the company wasn't his decision, and that CEO Parag Agrawal asked him to step down because he wanted to take the team "in a different direction." Beykpour was fired during his paternity leave, which he began in March.

"I hope and expect that Twitter’s best days are still ahead of it," Beykpour said in the thread. "Twitter is one of the most important, unique and impactful products in the world. With the right nurturing and stewardship, that impact will only grow."

The high-profile departures may be a sign that employees are trying to get out before Musk takes over and blows up many of the product initiatives the company has been working on for years. Twitter has reportedly been preparing for an exodus of employees, many due to their criticisms of Musk's ideas to implement a more hands-off free-speech policy. Though Twitter reportedly expects more to leave once the deal goes through, Musk may be getting cold feet, tweeting that the deal "on hold" until the company handles its bot problem.

Nat Rubio-Licht

Nat Rubio-Licht is a Los Angeles-based news writer at Protocol. They graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper and online journalism in May 2020. Prior to joining the team, they worked at the Los Angeles Business Journal as a technology and aerospace reporter.

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