Two of Twitter’s leaders are leaving as part of a shake-up of top executives, according to an internal memo shared with employees on Thursday, as the company grapples with a takeover from Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.
Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s general manager, is leaving and will be replaced by Jay Sullivan, according to the memo, which was obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Sullivan is currently the interim general manager of the consumer product. Bruce Falck, Twitter’s general manager for revenue, is also departing the company.
“It’s critical to have the right leaders at the right time,” Parag Agrawal, chief executive of Twitter, said in the memo to staff. Mr. Sullivan’s “product vision, ability to inspire, move quickly and drive change is what Twitter needs now, and in the future.”
The memo said Twitter was also pausing most new hiring and pulling back on discretionary spending, though the company is not currently planning layoffs. Part of this stems from the company’s not hitting goals in audience and revenue growth, Mr. Agrawal wrote.
Twitter has been in an uproar since Mr. Musk struck a deal last month to buy the social media service for $44 billion. The billionaire, who also runs the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX, has said he will take Twitter private and wants to improve the product. He has criticized some of Twitter’s top executives publicly, especially for the way that they have moderated speech on the service.
Mr. Musk, who is still lining up some financing for the purchase, is expected to close the deal for Twitter in the next few months. In a pitch to investors, he has said he wants to quintuple Twitter’s revenue by 2028 and grow its users to 931 million by then, up from 217 million at the end of last year.