A Twitter director was told off by a senior leader for organizing a one-to-one meeting with Elon Musk to discuss ideas before his deal closed, report says

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A Twitter director was told off by a senior leader for organizing a one-to-one meeting with Elon Musk to discuss ideas before his deal closed, report says
Elon Musk and Esther Crawford.CARINA JOHANSEN/NTB/AFP via Getty Images/Robert Cowherd
  • A Twitter director was reprimanded for arranging a one-to-one meeting with Elon Musk, per the FT.
  • Esther Crawford introduced herself to Musk in Twitter's cafe before the deal closed, the FT said.
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A Twitter director was told off for arranging a one-on-one meeting with Elon Musk days before his acquisition closed, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

On Musk's first visit to Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, Esther Crawford, the director of product management, introduced herself to him in the company's cafe, people with knowledge of the matter told the FT.

Crawford organized a meeting with Musk, in which she planned to discuss her ideas about creators and payments on the site, the people told the publication.

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Musk liked her ideas, but other employees were irritated by her move, people familiar with operations at Twitter told the FT.

A senior leader reprimanded Crawford for going directly to Musk instead of speaking to them, the people told the FT.

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In November, Crawford was photographed in a sleeping bag on the floor at the office. She retweeted the photo, saying her team was "pushing round the clock to make deadlines."

One senior employee, who remained anonymous, told the FT that the sleeping bag incident "bothered people." The same employee described Crawford as a "bit of an interpreter" between Musk and the product team.

Crawford declined to comment to the FT. Neither she nor Twitter immediately responded to Insider's request for comment.

The FT reported that Crawford introduced herself to Musk during his first visit to the company headquarters, which was on October 26, two days before Musk's Twitter deal closed. On the day of his visit, the billionaire shared a video on Twitter of him carrying a sink into the office, saying: "Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in."

Crawford's LinkedIn profile says she started her role as director of product management in late 2020. Insider previously reported that she survived the multiple rounds of layoffs that happened once Musk took over.

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Crawford remains active on Twitter, posting updates about the site and new features that are due to launch.

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