October 27, 2022

“Elon Musk has started cleaning house at Twitter with the firings of at least four top executives on Thursday….”

The NYT reports.

The Twitter executives who were fired include Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief executive, Ned Segal, the chief financial officer, Vijaya Gadde, the top legal and policy executive, and Sean Edgett, the general counsel…. At least one of the executives who was fired was escorted out of Twitter’s office…. 

The billionaire, 51, has promised to transform Twitter by taking it private, loosening the service’s content moderation rules, making its algorithm more transparent and nurturing subscription businesses….

ADDED: Libs of TikTok tweets “FREEDOM.” 

72 comments:

mccullough said...

The right people lost their jobs.

Next is moving the headquarters out of Frisco

Charlie Eklund said...

Even the Mighty Hercules needed an iron broom to clean the Augean stables; I’ll bet the Mighty Musketeer already has his iron broom at hand, all dressed up and ready to go.

YoungHegelian said...

Vijaya Gadde, the top legal and policy executive

This woman couldn't be fired quickly enough.

Watch her in this and tell me if you'd trust this woman to even deliver your groceries.

mesquito said...

Liberals hate free speech. That’s not really news. I learned that at the University of Texas in 1985.

RMc said...

Did someone say "The Mighty Hercules"...?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrLM6UKcMPg

Achilles said...

Time to get my account started up.

There is a lot of business and marketing that will be possible now.

Time to start watching their stock on the ticker too.

Achilles said...

He has already stated he is going to add a youtube clone to twitter.

If he allows free porting and makes adoption easy a lot of people want to leave youtube.

DINKY DAU 45 said...

the guy who said he wasn't going to do it is happy now, trump back on a roll and Kanye too! Yippie. Rip it up folks! Finally, some excitement back in the mix.

Laslo Spatula said...

If these executives are as valuable as Twitter-World believes then they will surely bounce back into even higher-paid more prestigious jobs within days.

Either that or it was a grift.

I'm sure the government can step in and make things right.

I am Laslo.

Beasts of England said...

Goodbye-a, Vijaya. I hope you never recover from the shame of being escorted out of the building, as I know how much caste matters to your culture…

minnesota farm guy said...

This is really going to be fun to watch! Certainly these people were not even self-aware enough to even examine how bias they are. Good riddance!
Can you imagine what the effect of this move was on the letter writers who made "demands" on Musk. Fascinating guy.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Somebody tweeted "Trump won the 2020 Election"

The canary in the coalmine.

Robert Marshall said...

Read that Twitter median salary was $240,000, and for engineers, $308,000. Sounds like a target-rich environment for trimming fat.

Lurker21 said...

Elon is getting rid of everything but the kitchen sink.

Andy said...

Vijaya Gadde firing may be the most important. Everyone associated with her needs to go as well. Now the unbannings free the Bee and Rekieta.

MayBee said...

I'm sure Our Democracy is now even more at risk.

walter said...

Musk: Lay off 75% of staff.
Staff: Here are our demands.

madAsHell said...

.....but, wait!!

They published THEIR demands.

Jon Burack said...

Yes, YoungHegelian, I did watch a bit of that Joe Rogan show with Vijaya Gadde, and I agree. What a weasel with all her sophistry about why twitter's shutdowns are not ideologically biased when they so clearly are. It was exhausting listening to her excuse-making, and I only watch for about 15 minutes. It is SO nice to think she is having to lead the way out the door, hopefully to be followed by many, many others. Twitter has been a hideous force in our culture in many ways, the imposing of its ideology being only one. If Musk transforms it, good. If he merely drives it into the dust, fine as well.

Michael K said...

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people. Or more deserving.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

If Elon could buy Google - FREEDOM!

Moondawggie said...

I understand Schadenfreude is wrong, but it's somehow enjoyable to watch Karma come around and land hard, right on top of the heads of Twitter's self-appointed moral and intellectual superiors who assigned themselves the sacred duty of regulating the information available to the the hoi polloi.

CWJ said...

I'm sure all four of these individuals have golden parachutes, each far more valuable than what I earned in my entire lifetime. I suspect being fired is more profitable to them than continued employment.

FullMoon said...

Trump says looking forward to engaging with an African American owned business.

gpm said...

>>The Twitter executives who were fired include Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief executive,

Can't speak to Vijaya Gadde, but this guy really, really needed to go.

--gpm

Kathryn51 said...

"Vijaya Gadde, the top legal and policy executive. . "

When I originally saw her speak, my blood ran cold.

Readering said...

For the 4 reportedly fired today, expect they will get super payouts under change of control provisions in their employment contracts.

n.n said...

Not viable. Not viable. Not viable. Goose.

Joe Smith said...

'I'm sure Our Democracy is now even more at risk.'

Yes, our democracy is surely in danger.

And don't call me Shirley...

Mary Martha said...

"Vijaya Gadde, the top legal and policy executive"

This woman was a poison in her position and it's good to see her go. Watching her interact with Tim Pool on the Joe Rogan Show was astonishing to see how she held so much power and had no sense of an obligation to be even handed with it.

As Tim Pool said when he got this news - if this is all Elon Musk does it will be enough. I still do hope he does more.

TaeJohnDo said...

I wonder if my twitter account will get unsuspended now? Apparently people did't like being told I thought they were useful idiots and reported me one time too many...

Crazy World said...

Great day in America!

Darkisland said...

I've seen a lot of reports that m Elon carried a "kitchen sink" into Twitter. Including a couple of commenters here in this thread.

Am I the only one to notice that it was a wall-mounted, ceramic bathroom sink?

I have no idea what that means but it certainly destroys any "everything but the kitchen sink" or similar memes.

Or perhaps Elon is just to stupid to realize the difference between a kitchen and a bathroom sink? Yeah, that's the ticket.

Let that sink in.

John stop fascism vote republican Henry

Darkisland said...

 Lurker21 said...

Elon is getting rid of everything but the kitchen sink

Ignoring for the moment that it was a bathroom not a kitchen sink, that meme makes no sense. Though it is very popular.

If he was getting rid of everything but the kitchen sink, as the old expression goes, why would he he bring a new one?

A better reading would be "he is replacing everything including the bathroom(?) sink"

John stop fascism vote republican Henry

JAORE said...

Ah,cutting off the head. Much more powerful statement than 500 worker bees.

Perhaps just perhaps, some of the underlings will wake up from being woke.

But I'd bet on them doubling down.

Mike Sylwester said...

A Day in the Life of a Twitter Employee

tim maguire said...

minnesota farm guy said...Can you imagine what the effect of this move was on the letter writers who made "demands" on Musk

Perhaps the only smart thing they did in their entire twitter careers was make that letter anonymous.

WK said...

Carrying the sink is related to a previous meme “let that sink in”.

The executives he got rid of are similar to many that are moving into high positions in large global or technology companies. Not the folks that built the organization but coming in later and using the technologies and services to push their own agenda. Leading the charge for ESG, NetZero and supporting groups like WEF. Yet another long march….

tim maguire said...

Darkisland said...A better reading would be "he is replacing everything including the bathroom(?) sink"

A more pedantic reading, not a better one. You're being too literal.

Robert Roy said...

The sink is just a dad joke lol. They couldn't keep him out because they had to "let that sink in". It's a verbal pun.

Jefferson's Revenge said...

In the discussion about the question “do the times make the man or does the man make the time” Elon Musk’s life is a datapoint for the man makes the time. Also known as the Great Man View of History

I believe Heinlein had a few words on that subject.

MadTownGuy said...

JAORE said...

"Ah,cutting off the head. Much more powerful statement than 500 worker bees.

Perhaps just perhaps, some of the underlings will wake up from being woke.

But I'd bet on them doubling down.
"

That, or getting some sweet, sweet $oro$ buck$ on the side in return for creative sabotage.

Mark said...

Achilles wrote "Time to start watching their stock on the ticker too."

Perhaps you should read up what taking a company private does to their stock price before sharing your 'wisdom', genius.

I will take everything else you have and did say on the topic as similarly poorly informed about basic facts.

MikeR said...

Well, Trump found out the hard way how difficult/impossible it is to get rid of many disloyal people in one's organization. Maybe Musk will find a better algorithm. How about, anyone who tweeted about him in the last six months. Just filter for the words Musk and fascist.

Jamie said...

"Allow that sink to enter" is the reading you're looking for, John Henry...

Browndog said...

In the tweet Musk posted of him entering Twitter HQ he wrote "Let that sink in."

No further interpretation needed.

Jersey Fled said...

They all left with a severance package larger than the GDP of a number of small countries.

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

As craziness continues to unfold everywhere, I'm most thankful for those surprises that drop the masks of the frauds, like the people who are now fretting about how dangerous it is for Twitter to be owned by Musk, but who previously dismissed complaints about how that control was used against political enemies.

We've raised a nation of narcissists. Hopefully there will be a natural reversion to the mean in humility and introspection. But I'm not optimistic. At least not without some seriously traumatic event forcing it upon us.

Howard said...

This is going to save the Democrat Party from itself.

Joe Smith said...

Don't bet against the world's richest African American...

Gusty Winds said...

Not only has the left abandon the principle of free speech and its constitutional guarantee, they now consider it a treat to their totalitarian plans.

This is probably one of the most evil movements in American history, and there have been plenty.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Elon has entered Thunderdome. Best of luck America.

tim in vermont said...

Democrats are leaving, only those not 100% committed to Democratic Party orthodoxy are staying, > 99% of the globe:

Carol said...

Twitter got crazy last night. Like the Velvet Revolution or the Arab Spring or something...woke up wondering if I was in trouble.

Not sure how to handle freedom.





rwnutjob said...

Turns out, banning the Babylon Bee was equivalent to killing John Wick's dog.
The three leaders are getting a combined $200m
Jack Dorsey's payout is close to $1b
Boo freakin hoo

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

@Moondawgie at 10pm-
If Schadenfreude is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Drago said...

Gusty Winds: "Not only has the left abandon the principle of free speech and its constitutional guarantee, they now consider it a treat to their totalitarian plans."

The left has never been for the principle of free speech and its constitutional guarantee.

Drago said...

Readering: "For the 4 reportedly fired today, expect they will get super payouts under change of control provisions in their employment contracts."

LOL

Gee, ya think?

Thanks for that "breaking news" readering. Revelatory.

Achilles said...

Mark said...

Achilles wrote "Time to start watching their stock on the ticker too."

Perhaps you should read up what taking a company private does to their stock price before sharing your 'wisdom', genius.

I will take everything else you have and did say on the topic as similarly poorly informed about basic facts.


If he takes it private I would still have the shares.

I just wouldn't be able to vote on the board members and would be trusting Musk to do the right thing.

Most common shares people buy in public companies have no real voting power either.

You are just a really ignorant person by the way. You leftists have really stupid ideas about how businesses actually work and you assume people who disagree with you are not as smart as you.

Twitter has a much better chance of making money now that Musk is in control and investing in it makes a lot of sense if you are interested in making money and supporting freedom.

But we know that you are really only interested in control over other people.

Goldenpause said...

I am waiting for all the squealing from lefty snowflakes about how threatened they feel because they are being exposed on Twitter to opinions and ideas they disagree with. I am betting the Biden administration and California will step up their harassment of Musk.

ccscientist said...

Now do Google, which is suppressing search for republicans and emails by republicans running for office. Remember when their motto was "don't be evil"? They don't.

deepelemblues said...

Those fired were all despicable fascists. Best day for the intersection of politics and business in America for some time.

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

Blogger Howard said...

This is going to save the Democrat Party from itself.

Now there's some introspection. I agree, it's a step in that direction. Almost all culture war losses for either party could tend to help the survival of that party, but only to the extent the party recognizes the errors and self-corrects. We need two parties (at least) that aren't insane. Alas, it will take a lot more than this.

Achilles said...

Howard said...

This is going to save the Democrat Party from itself.

By convincing fascists to not be fascists?

It doesn't work that way.

The Democrat party will only be saved if 2 things happen:

1. The average democrat would have to support freedom of speech, association, and equal justice under the law.

2. An outside entity comes in and takes it over with the support of the average democrat voter.

If you want an example of how the democrat party can be saved you can just look at what Trump did to the Republican party. And it would be a long messy process just like that was. We are still purging the shitheads and corruptocrats.

But in the end the core problem you have is that the average democrat voter is a piece of shit. that supports censorship, political violence, and a two tier justice system.

Rusty said...

Bumble Bee
He OWNS Thunderdome.
Sounds like Mark owns shares and he's not happy.

Mark said...

Rusty, my $34 shares from 2 years ago are about to turn into $54.20 cash.

Yeah, I am heartbroken that Elon and friends are paying that price. I hate taking a great return and losing risk, it's the absolute worst;)

Looks like they filed to have it delisted from NYSE today, Achilles is soon going to have an adventure trying to find their stock ticker to watch.

Just an old country lawyer said...

Buy the FBI next, please.

Rusty said...

You can call the company, Mark, and they'll give you the latest valuation.

Jim at said...

I suspect being fired is more profitable to them than continued employment.

Money is one thing. Losing control is what's driving them mad.

Readering said...

Drago, can you explain things to Achilles?

Mason G said...

"Money is one thing. Losing control is what's driving them mad."

Twitter employees: "We demand that you not discriminate against us because of our political beliefs so that we can continue to discriminate against our users because of their political beliefs".

Milwaukie guy said...

One thing floating around is charging for Twitter accounts.

I think this is a good idea, like $12/yr, maybe 3 accounts per credit card. Not for the revenue but to make bot accounts harder to acquire.

I truly love Elon Musk.