By Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer
Twitter fired two of its top managers, the latest sign of internal turmoil amid Tesla billionaire Elon Musk's planned buyout of the company.
One Twitter general manager, Kayvon Beykpour, is leaving after 7 years. In a series of tweets Thursday, Beykpour said CEO Parag Agrawal "asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction."
Bruce Falck, Twitter's revenue and product lead, was also fired, according to a tweet that has since been deleted. His Twitter bio now says "unemployed."
"I dedicate this Tweet to those engineers and thank you ALL for the opportunity to serve alongside you. It's been awesome. There is a lot more to do so get back to work, I can't wait to see what you build," Falck tweeted.
Twitter confirmed both departures and said the company is pausing most hiring and except for business critical roles. In addition, it said in a statement, "we are pulling back on non-labor costs to ensure we are being responsible and efficient."
Beykpour was the general manager of consumer Twitter, leading design, research, product, engineering and customer service and operations teams, according to his Twitter bio. A co-founder of the live streaming app Periscope, Beykpour joined Twitter when the social media company bought his startup in 2015.
"I hope and expect that Twitter's best days are still ahead of it. Twitter is one of the most important, unique and impactful products in the world. With the right nurturing and stewardship, that impact will only grow," he said on Twitter.
Beykpour did not immediately respond to a message for comment.
In a memo sent to employees and confirmed by Twitter, Agrawal said Twitter has not hit growth and revenue milestones after the company began to invest "aggressively" to expand its user base and revenue.
Shares of San Francisco-based Twitter slipped 86 cents to $45.23 midday Thursday, more than 20% below Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share.
Avid completes acquisition of Wolftech
Avid®, known for software solutions for professional media production, has completed the acquisition of Wolftech Broadcast Solutions, a leader in cloud-based multiplatform news planning, production and publishing solutions.
The acquisition enables Avid to combine its digital-first, end-to-end media solution with Wolftech’s expertise in story-centric workflow management. News organizations will be able to increase efficiency and accelerate story delivery through enhanced remote collaboration and multiplatform amplification.
Avid CEO Wellford Dillard stated, “Wolftech is unquestionably on the leading edge of where the industry is going, and this acquisition demonstrates Avid’s commitment to transform news, sports, and live production workflows. We are delighted to welcome Wolftech into the Avid family.”
Wolftech CEO Arne Berven added, “We were focused on finding a partner that could accelerate the adoption of our platform globally. We explored a number of possibilities, but when we talked to Avid, we knew it was the right match.”
The closing of the acquisition follows Avid’s announcement on October 7 that the company had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wolftech.
With this acquisition, Avid deepens the integration between the two toolsets while continuing to embrace an open approach in partnering with a wide range of media production tools and newsroom systems. Existing Wolftech customers will benefit from Avid’s global scale for customer support and professional services.
Ian Axton, head of production operations for ITV News, said, “As a customer of both Avid and Wolftech we’re excited about the benefits this acquisition will bring to our users and our business. Wolftech has transformed... Read More