Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal announced a hiring freeze and other measures to cut costs before Elon Musk's takeover of the company. Reuters
Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal announced a hiring freeze and other measures to cut costs before Elon Musk's takeover of the company. Reuters
Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal announced a hiring freeze and other measures to cut costs before Elon Musk's takeover of the company. Reuters
Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal announced a hiring freeze and other measures to cut costs before Elon Musk's takeover of the company. Reuters

Twitter to freeze hiring and rescind offers before Elon Musk deal


  • English
  • Arabic

Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal announced a hiring freeze and other cost-cutting efforts on Thursday, a reflection of the company’s state of uncertainty while it awaits Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover.

The company will not hire new employees and may rescind offers already out, an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg showed. Some exceptions will be made for business-critical roles, as determined by Twitter leadership.

The company is also pulling back on costs such as travel, consulting and marketing, the memo said.

Mr Agrawal said global events, including the war in Ukraine and the supply chain crunch, have hurt Twitter’s business results and may continue to do so.

Company-wide job cuts are not planned, “but leaders will continue making changes to their organisations to improve efficiencies as needed”, Mr Agrawal wrote.

“At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the decision was made to invest aggressively to deliver big growth in audience and revenue, and as a company we did not hit intermediate milestones that enable confidence in these goals,” Mr Agrawal said.

“In order to responsibly manage the organisation as we sharpen our road maps and our work, we need to continue to be intentional about our teams, hiring and costs.”

Two of Twitter’s top leaders are also departing: Kayvon Beykpour, head of consumer product, and Bruce Falck, in charge of revenue, are both leaving the company.

Jay Sullivan will take over as head of product and interim head of revenue. Mr Sullivan has talked about refocusing the company on fewer projects during recent team- and company-wide meetings, a person familiar with the matter said.

Mr Beykpour said on Twitter that it’s not how he imagined leaving the company.

“Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction,” he said.

A Twitter representative didn’t respond to a request for comment.

As Mr Musk does not yet own Twitter, he is not yet directly influencing the company’s decision-making. Larger competitor Meta also recently said it will reduce planned expenditures.

The changes reflect Twitter’s current state of limbo while it awaits a new owner. Mr Musk, the world’s richest man and chief executive of Tesla, agreed to buy the company for $44 billion last month, but the deal may not be finalised for months, as he is still working to secure the financing.

On Tuesday, he suggested that the deal could still fall apart.

That has left Twitter employees in the lurch, as many do not know whether the projects or teams they are working on will be prioritised under new leadership.

Elon Musk says he intends Twitter to be as inclusive as possible

heading

Iran has sent five planeloads of food to Qatar, which is suffering shortages amid a regional blockade.

A number of nations, including Iran's major rival Saudi Arabia, last week cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding terrorism, charges it denies.

The land border with Saudi Arabia, through which 40% of Qatar's food comes, has been closed.

Meanwhile, mediators Kuwait said that Qatar was ready to listen to the "qualms" of its neighbours.

General%20Classification
%3Cp%3E1.%20Elisa%20Longo%20Borghini%20(ITA)%20Trek-Segafredo%3Cbr%3E2.%20Gaia%20Realini%20(ITA)%20Trek-Segafredo%207%20secs%3Cbr%3E3.%20Silvia%20Persico%20(ITA)%20UAE%20Team%20ADQ%201%20min%2018%20secs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
SPECS%3A%20Polestar%203
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELong-range%20dual%20motor%20with%20400V%20battery%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E360kW%20%2F%20483bhp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E840Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20automatic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20touring%20range%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20628km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E0-100km%2Fh%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.7sec%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETop%20speed%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20210kph%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh360%2C000%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeptember%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Infiniti QX80 specs

Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6

Power: 450hp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000

Available: Now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
​​​​​​​Penguin Press

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
  • Flexible work arrangements
  • Pension support
  • Mental well-being assistance
  • Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
  • Financial well-being incentives 
War and the virus

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
By Sean Penn
Simon & Schuster

Huddersfield Town permanent signings:

  • Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
  • Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
  • Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
  • Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
  • Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
  • Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
  • Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
  • Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

Updated: May 12, 2022, 6:22 PM`