Parag Agrawal’s 11-Month Tenure as CEO Said to End as Musk Gains Control

When Parag Agrawal was appointed CEO of Twitter in November 2021, the IIT graduate joined a steadily rising membership of executives from India rising to the highest of worldwide firms, however the 38-year-old government’s temporary tenure on the helm of the social media big was difficult and chaotic. Less than a yr into his job as CEO, India-born Agrawal was ousted from the corporate by its new proprietor billionaire Elon Musk who on Thursday closed the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,37,465 crore) deal to accumulate the social media behemoth.

An IIT Bombay and Stanford alumnus, Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 when there have been fewer than 1,000 staff. Rising within the firm, he grew to become Twitter’s chief expertise officer in 2017. Considered a protege of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Agrawal was appointed CEO of Twitter after Dorsey stepped down.

In asserting his determination to step down and title Agrawal as CEO, Dorsey had stated on the time “my trust in him as our CEO is bone deep.” Dorsey had stated that Agrawal had been his alternative for CEO for “some time” given how deeply he understands the company and its needs. “Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. He’s curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware, and humble. He leads with heart and soul, and is someone I learn from daily.” Ajmer-born Agrawal’s ascent to the highest job at Twitter put him in a steadily rising membership of executives hailing from India helming world firms, together with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. Indra Nooyi had served as PepsiCo’s CEO for 12 years earlier than stepping down in 2018.

According to a May 2022 report in The New York Times, if Musk eliminated him as chief government, Agrawal might make $60 million (roughly Rs. 495 crore), as per securities filings.

Agrawal’s time as Twitter CEO was difficult and turbulent.

Just a number of months into the job as CEO, Musk got here into the image. As per a CNN Business report citing a regulatory filing in March this yr, Musk had met with Dorsey to “discuss the future direction of social media.”

“In the days that followed, Musk met with Twitter’s board and some of its leadership team, including Agrawal; publicly announced that he’d become Twitter’s largest shareholder; and accepted a seat on the company’s board,” the CNN report stated.

Musk tweeted a number of days later that “Is Twitter dying?”.

The CNN report added that in line with a courtroom submitting in late September, Agrawal had texted Musk responding to his tweet.

“You are free to tweet ‘is Twitter dying?’ or anything else about Twitter,” Agrawal had said in the text to Musk “but it’s my responsibility to tell you that it’s not helping me make Twitter better in the current context. Next time we speak, I’d like you to provide (your) perspective on the level of internal distraction right now and how [it’s] hurting our ability to do work … I’d like the company to get to a place where we are more resilient and don’t get distracted, but we aren’t there right now.” Musk had responded to Agrawal saying: “What did you get done this week?” In two follow-up texts, he rescinded his agreement to join the board, saying, “I’m not joining the board. This is a waste of time.” He added: “Will make an offer to take Twitter private,” according to the CNN article.

On Agrawal’s challenges to manage a “restive work pressure and take care of Twitter’s mounting financial” woes earlier than seemingly being “booted” from the corporate, The New York Times had quoted Bob Sutton, an organisational psychologist and professor at Stanford University, as saying that “there’s no one in the world who would want to be in those shoes.” The NYT article stated that as Twitter’s chief expertise officer, Agrawal “worked on some of Twitter’s complicated technical challenges and built relationships with his engineering peers” and Dorsey.

He shared Dorsey’s “vision that Twitter’s future hinged on overhauling its technology so it could rely more on machine learning and decentralize its services to give users more control over their experiences on the platform.” As the Musk saga unfolded, the NYT stated within the May 2022 article that at “a virtual meeting for Twitter executives”, Agrawal “admitted he was exhausted.” “At the meeting, Mr Agrawal was “raw” about Twitter’s points and the hurricane of consideration over Mr Musk’s deal, two individuals with data of the occasion stated. But he additionally conveyed a way of acceptance of his scenario and stated he would transfer ahead along with his plans for the corporate, they stated,” the NYT report said.

When he was appointed CEO in 2021, Agrawal stated in a word posted on Twitter that he was “honoured and humbled” on his appointment and expressed gratitude to Dorsey’s “continued mentorship and your friendship.” “While it was a decade ago, those days feel like yesterday to me. I’ve walked in your shoes, I’ve seen the ups and downs, the challenges and obstacles, the wins and the mistakes. But then and now, above all else, I see Twitter’s incredible impact, our continued progress, and the exciting opportunities ahead of us,” he stated.

“Our purpose has never been more important. Our people and our culture are unlike anything in the world. There is no limit to what we can do together.” “We recently updated our strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right. But our critical challenge is how we work to execute against it and deliver results – that’s how we’ll make Twitter the best it can be for our customers, shareholders, and for each of you.” “The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Lots of people are going to have lots of different views and opinions about today’s news. It is because they care about Twitter and our future, and it’s a signal that the work we do here matters,” Agrawal stated in his word final yr.