Ned Segal, previously CFO of Twitter, was let go in the aftermath of Elon Musk's acquisition of the social media platform. After closing the deal on Oct. 27, per an SEC filing, Musk will take the company private as a subsidiary of X Holdings. The stock ticker is now delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
The acquisition, which was initiated by Musk in April, concluded amid a variety of twists and turns over the past several months. Stemming from Musk's announcement, to his attempt to pull out of the deal, to the Twitter board of directors attempting to enforce the terms of the deal, and ultimately, closure to the tune of a reported $44 billion, the takeover saga finally rolled credits.
Segal, who had held the CFO role at the company since 2017, was escorted out of Twitter headquarters by security, along with CEO Parag Agrawal, chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, and chief customer officer Sarah Personette. As a part of their dismissal, the executives received a combined $88 million in direct compensation. Segal received $25.4M, while Agrawal received $38.7M, Gadde, $12.5M, and Personette, $11.2M. During Segal's tenure, Twitter's profitability was inconsistent. Following a positive 2019, the company had recorded net losses in 2020 and 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 2022 continued the uneven trend, though the company had not yet reported Q3 earnings.
"Thursday concluded 5 years @Twitter," Segal relayed on his former employer's platform Friday morning. "I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such an incredible group of people building the world’s town square for all of our stakeholders. The work isn’t complete, but we made meaningful progress."
Segal's Twitter profile is still active, with his bio referring to himself as the former CFO of the social media application. In his departure, Segal published a series of responses on his original tweet. He complemented his former coworkers on the work they completed, the importance of Twitter as an entity in regard to free speech, and thanked his family for being alongside him during his tenure. He called his time at Twitter "the most fulfilling moments of my career."
The future of Twitter is unknown. Musk, who has scrutinized the organization's policies, politics, and performance prior to his purchase of the social media application, has been quiet on his role in implementing changes at the company. Even the changes themselves, outside of mass layoffs, are still up in the air.
Removing bots from Twitter, a point of contention between both sides when valuations of the company were being made, may be one of Musk's first focal points. According to reports, accounts with large amounts of followers saw a major drop off as the deal was first in the works, something the former operators of Twitter referred to as "organic" account closures.
As of Friday night, Musk announced on Twitter there are no clear changes to any of Twitter's content moderation policies. In typical Musk fashion, Twitter's new boss only hinted at policy changes by tweeting out, "comedy is now legal on Twitter."
Much like his creative title of Technoking of Tesla, Musk isn't referring to himself as owner or CEO of his latest acquisition. According to his profile, Musk will go by the title chief twit.