Managers fired from Twitter amid Musk buyout turmoil
San Francisco(AP): Twitter fired two of its top managers Friday, 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 USD45.23 midday Thursday. That's just 3 cents above Musk's offer price of USD45.20 per share.
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India & Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership, vow to soon conclude free trade deal
Jerusalem (PTI): India and Israel on Thursday elevated their "time-tested" relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to soon firm up a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
Following talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two sides inked a plethora of agreements to expand cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payment.
India and Israel also vowed to expand their already close defence partnership by working towards joint development and joint production of military hardware under the framework of the transfer of technologies.
In his media statement, Modi said India's security interest is linked to peace and stability in the Middle East, adding that New Delhi fully supports the Gaza Peace Initiative.
"India's stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts," he said.
"In the future as well, we will continue dialogue and cooperation with all countries," he said.
PM Modi landed in Israel on Wednesday on a two-day visit. It is his second visit to Israel in nine years.
In his remarks, the prime minister said India and Israel have a united view that there is no place for terrorism in the world and both sides stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering terrorism and its supporters.
"Our relationship is founded on the strong bedrock of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensitivities. Our bond has stood the test of every trial of time," he said.
"Today, we have taken the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to the status of a 'Special Strategic Partnership'," he said.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of an India-Israel critical and emerging technologies partnership to impart a new momentum for cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, quantum, and critical minerals. "I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel," he said.
The prime minister, referring to the threat of terrorism, said India and Israel will continue to confront the menace unitedly.
"India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted," he said.
"We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing terrorism and its supporters, and we will continue to do so," he added.
India and Israel also discussed the implementation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and cooperation under the framework of I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA).
