Elon Musk is acquiring Twitter, a major social media platform, for a hefty $45 billion in cash. After the deal is done, the 16-year-old company will be a private entity controlled entirely by Tesla’s CEO. Musk, who claims to be a “free speech” believer, surely has a different vision for the microblogging site.  

After the news broke, a slew of questions arose regarding the company’s future plans, the state of its employees, and the new CEO. In a virtual call just hours after Musk’s proposal was accepted, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal addressed what this deal meant for the company. 

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So, here’s what we know so far about Twitter’s reforms.

Will there be job cuts?

Before the deal closes by the end of this year, Parag Agrawal told employees that there will be no major changes. At this time, the CEO has assured employees that there are no plans for layoffs. Employees were told that the deal would take three to six months to complete.

“That doesn’t mean things won’t change, things have been changing … I have been talking about driving positive change at the company, and I will continue doing so because it makes us better and it makes us stronger. Once the deal closes, different decisions might be made,” Agrawal said in his statement.

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New pay structure 

Now that Twitter will become a private company, Elon Musk will have to devise a new pay structure for its employees. As per News 18 reports, employees will no longer have stock options. When the deal closes, Agrawal informed employees that their stock options would be converted to cash. Also, employees would get the same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalised, according to the agreement.

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Change in policies

Reportedly, Parag Agrawal stated that salary will generally remain the same under Elon Musk, but he did not make the same promises about its policies and culture.

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Hour of uncertainty

Apparently, the dramatic shift in the microblogging site’s ownership has occurred at a time when the tech industry is seeing fierce competition for talent.

“This is indeed a period of uncertainty… All of you have different feelings and views about this news, many of you are concerned, some of you are excited, many people here are waiting to understand how this goes and have an open mind,” the CEO replied when asked about the future.

Leadership Changes 

During a virtual conference with the company’s employees, Parag stated that he would continue to serve as CEO until the deal is finalised. According to Brett Taylor, the board’s independent chair, once Elon Musk takes over, the board will be dissolved.  “There is indeed uncertainty about what will happen after the deal closes,” the CEO clarified

Following the departure of co-founder Jack Dorsey, Paral Agrawal was named CEO of Twitter just five months ago. 

Who will be the next CEO?

One of the unanswered questions is who he would choose to oversee the company and how active he would be in its operations. Musk already has too much on his platter with Tesla and SpaceX. As a reason, it’s very likely that he’ll appoint a new CEO to run the company but may take the leadership role himself.

If fired, what will happen next for Parag Agrawal?

According to the Economic Times, if Agrawal is fired within 12 months of a leadership change at Facebook, he will receive an estimated $42 million, stated the research firm Equilar. 

Based on Musk’s offering price of $54.20 per share and terms in the company’s latest proxy statement, Equilar’s estimate includes a year’s worth of Agrawal’s base salary plus accelerated payout of all equity awards, according to an Equilar spokesperson. Twitter, on the other hand, has yet to respond to the matter yet.

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Elon Musk has previously stated his concern with the site’s management, thus a management shuffle is likely in the near future.