- Twitter executives held a full meeting with employees to discuss Elon Musk’s impending takeover.
- During the call, board chairman Bret Taylor criticized leaks to the press during the negotiations.
- He also apologized to employees for being put in such a “disruptive” situation.
Twitter’s chairman is not happy that information about Elon Musk’s proposal to take over the social platform has leaked to the press and the public over the past two weeks.
During an all-hands meeting Monday to discuss with employees accepting Musk’s $44 billion takeover offer from Twitter, the records of which were reviewed by Insider, Chairman Bret Taylor expressed frustration that employees were being kept informed of board decisions and deliberations. through the press.
“The most important thing in this process is maintaining confidentiality,” Taylor said, prompted by an employee who questioned a lack of communication and transparency with Twitter employees about Musk’s initial investment that quickly turned into a hostile takeover.
One current employee told Insider that workers have been “talking to a wall” in recent weeks and that what little they knew about the future of the company they worked for came from press reports, echoing sentiments that other employees previously shared with Insider. Employees also pepper Taylor and CEO Parag Agrawal with questions about their stock and Donald Trump being allowed back on the platform. One asked how the company would deal with an impending “employee exodus,” also reported by Insider.
As for why employees had been told so little, Taylor said that being more transparent with them and risking leaks “wouldn’t do justice to the process” of trying to reach a deal with Musk that “achieved the right outcome for our shareholders.”
The value of Musk’s $54.20 per share offer for Twitter that the board accepted on Monday is the same price he originally offered two weeks ago. Nothing about the offer appears to have materially changed despite what Agrawal said on the call had been “sleepless nights” of work since Musk officially made the offer on April 14.
During the call, Taylor continued to express some frustration and criticize the information that has leaked about the offer and Twitter’s discussions, saying that the information being kept private “is one of the assets that we have” in the negotiations.
“I can’t speak to why people leak, but they do,” Taylor said. “There are many people and advisors involved in this process.
He went on to say that he sympathized with the unenviable position Twitter employees were put in by having to read about their company’s fate in the press.
“I can’t imagine how upsetting this was for all of you, but I want to apologize for that,” Taylor said. “We all care about this company and to read those leaks in the press, in my mind, it represents a disrespect for an extremely sensitive process.”
However, Taylor admitted that with so many people involved, such a situation is “inevitable”.
“As uncomfortable as I find it, it’s quite common.”
Taylor also said on the call that the board he currently leads at Twitter “will not exist” after the deal with Musk closes, which is expected later this year, and “there will be a new structure in place.”
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