Explained: If fired, what next to Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal?

New Delhi, Apr 26: The board of Twitter approved Elon Musk's takeover bid on Monday for a price of $44 billion (€41 billion). Musk will take the company private, ending its run as a public company since its 2013 initial public offering.

Under the terms of the deal, shareholders will receive USD 54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter stock they own, matching Musk's original offer and marking a 38 per cent premium over the stock price the day before Musk revealed his stake in the company, CNN reported.

It comes weeks after Musk expressed in a security filing that he had no confidence in Twitter management. So, this obviously raises questions around the future of its current employees and notably Indian-origin CEO Parag Agarwal, who took the top position, last November.

As far as the fate of the employees are concerned, the Twitter Chief Executive has told employees that the future of the social media firm is uncertain as no one knows which direction things will go in.

According to a Reuters report, Agrawal was speaking at a company-wide town hall meeting. "Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go," Agrawal said.

Putting the employees' minds to ease, Agrawal answered a question regarding the possibility of layoffs. To which he replied there were no such plans for now.

So, what lies in store for Agarwal?

It is not clear what happens next for Agrawal, but he would get an estimated $42 million if he was fired within 12 months of a change in control at the social media company, according to research firm Equilar, Reuter reported. It includes a year's worth of Agrawal's base salary plus accelerated vesting of all equity awards, an Equilar spokesperson said, based on Musk's offering price of $54.20 per share and terms in the company's recent proxy statement.

However, a representative refused to react to Equilar's estimate.

Who is Parag Agarwal?

Agarwal, who received a doctorate from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, had joined the company in October 2011 and held several positions at the company most recently including "Distinguished Software Engineer".

Reportedly, he is responsible for Twitter's Technical Strategy, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Consumer, Revenue and Science teams.

His total compensation for 2021 was $30.4 million, according to Twitter's proxy, largely in stock awards.
Before joining Twitter, Parag held leadership positions at Microsoft Research and Yahoo!