Elon Musk fires Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and sets the Twitterati on fire

• Elon Musk fires Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal post the $44 billion takeover of the social media platform.
  
• The former Twitter CEO Agrawal will walk away with $42 million, according to reports.
  
• Twitter's top executives stand to make a total of $88 million after being fired.
  
• Agarwal has been trending on Twitter as Indians went berserk with memes and more.
  

The world’s richest man Elon Musk entered the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco with a grin and a sink in his hand. ‘Entering Twitter HQ- let that sink in!’, he posted with a video on Thursday. His first order of business post the $44 billion takeover was firing Twitter’s top four executives.

Among those fired was Indian-origin CEO Parag Agrawal, who had taken over the job last November after the resignation of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

A bitter battle

The 38-year-old Indian-American Agrawal joined Twitter as a software engineer in 2011 and was elevated as its chief technology officer in 2017. Hailing from Maharashtra and an alumni of IIT Bombay, he completed his doctorate in Computer Science from Stanford University.

He was also responsible for leading Project Bluesky, an independent Twitter-funded company working on creating a decentralised social network. As Twitter CEO, Agrawal was the youngest CEO heading a Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500 company.

During his brief tenure, he initiated the launch of Twitter edit button on the platform’s premium version Twitter Blue, added context notes on tweets and also completed the transition for controlling mentions on Twitter via Twitter Safety.

Musk entered the picture in April when he made the initial buy-out offer for Twitter. Twitter account Internal Tech Emails on Friday put out a series of messages reportedly exchanged between Agrawal and Musk – these show that although the two started off in agreement with each other, the relationship soured quickly.

After Musk tweeted - “Is Twitter dying?” Agrawal reportedly messaged Musk – “You are free to tweet 'Is Twitter dying?' or anything else about Twitter - but it is my responsibility to tell you that it's not making Twitter better in the current context.”

In a separate set of messages, Musk reportedly told Dorsey –"You and I are in complete agreement. Parag is just moving far too slowly and trying to please people who will not be happy no matter what he does."

Agrawal’s fate at a Musk-owned Twitter was sealed.

A freed bird and a win-win

The Twitter takeover was a tale of much uncertainty and bad blood. Musk finally ended the guessing game by taking over Twitter and tweeted on Friday, ‘The bird is freed’.

Musk also took to Twitter to explain his stance in an open letter addressed to ‘Dear Twitter advertisers’. He said he would prevent Twitter from becoming a ‘free-for-all hellscape’ and build a ‘common digital town square.’

And as far as Agrawal is concerned, all is not lost. The former CEO will take home $42 million including his salary and equity awards, as reported by Reuters. His salary was reported to be $1 million annually. Twitter's top executives stand to make a total of $88 million between them even after getting fired, according to Business Insider.

Agrawal gets the twitterati going

Agrawal may have left Twitter but the Twitterati made him trend. There was a flurry of reactions from Twitterati, especially Indians who saw Agrawal as one of their own, holding the top position in one of the world’s most powerful social media platforms. The top trending hashtags in India were #ParagAgrawal #Twittertakeover #ElonMusk #TwitterHQ.

Agrawal was variously celebrated, criticised, made fun of and given the ultimate social media compliment – of being memefied.

Here is a look at some of the top messages about Agrawal on social media.

Many took to Twitter to take a light dig at Indian parents’ long obsession with government jobs – “Doesn't matter if you are CEO of a giant social media platform.

The job security will only be in Government jobs” said one user.


Some took a dig at Agrawal, saying ‘Parag was aggressively against free speech.’


Others punned on the Agrawal name – a photo of a shop – Aggarwal sweets was accompanied by the message –‘#ParagAgrawal is back with a bang in front of Twitter HQ.’


An account celebrated the rising power of India and Rishi Sunak tweeting, ‘It shows that Indian domination continues in all fields’.


A few even anticipated the return of former US president Donald Trump on the platform saying ‘Welcome Back Trump’– he was banned from the social media app two years ago on account of inciting riots in the Capitol Hill.


Even Trump-endorsed candidate for Arizona Kari Lake offered a shift of headquarters to Musk. ‘DM me and we’ll work it out!’ she said.


SEE ALSO: The growth story behind half a billion dollar bets on 'regional' Indian spice makers
Creepy Chandler: Matthew Perry had a crush on all female Friends co-stars
Parag Agrawal's 11-month tenure as Twitter CEO was challenging and chaotic