Parag Agrawal’s response to those asking why a ‘lame-duck CEO’ is making changes at Twitter

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has publicly addressed making key changes at Twitter in the midst of an impending acquisition by Elon Musk, saying that no one at the company is working “just to keep the lights on”.

In a Twitter thread hours after Elon Musk announced that his deal with Twitter was temporarily on hold, Parag Agrawal said he still expected the agreement to close but the company needed to be prepared for all possible scenarios.

While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter. I’m accountable for leading and operating Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day.

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 13, 2022

On Friday, news emerged that Agarwal had sacked two top Twitter executives, telling one of them that he wanted to take the social network’s team in a different direction.

Agrawal said people had been asking why a “lame-duck” CEO would make these changes at Twitter if it were getting acquired anyway.

“I’m accountable for leading and operating Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day,” he said. “Regardless of the company’s future ownership, we’re here improving Twitter as a product and business for customers, partners, shareholders, and all of you.”

Read: Twitter shares slump as Musk puts $44 billion acquisition deal on hold

The Twitter CEO added that he will not use the deal with Elon Musk as an excuse to not make decisions in the benefit of the company.

“I’m still focused on doing the job, and that includes making hard decisions as needed,” he continued. “I will continue to embrace the deep complexities of our service and our business. And you can expect more change for the better.”

Agrawal added that he will try to usher in more transparency in the work Twitter does. “You won’t see tweets from me on the ‘topic of the day’ or the loudest sound bite, but rather on the ongoing, continuous, and challenging work our teams are doing to improve the public conversation on Twitter,” he added.