‘Twitter Stint Shows Agrawal’s Career Just Getting Started’

Twitter’s outgoing CEO Parag Agrawal’s gritty innings on the helm of the controversy-ridden social media platform is drawing plaudits from business professionals, who’ve recognized him personally, crediting him with defending the corporate’s valuation amid a tumultuous takeover by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. Final Thursday, the IIT-Bombay and Stanford College alumnus, and Twitter’s authorized chief Vijaya Gadde, have been ousted from their posts, instantly after Musk took over the reins of the San Francisco-based firm following months of acrimonious debate and authorized wrangling.

ET spoke to a swathe of business watchers in addition to lengthy -term associates of the India-born engineer who mentioned Agrawal had displayed “grace and enterprise sense beneath stress.”

“He stored his board and workers collectively, negotiated an awesome deal and took Musk to court docket and didn’t flinch when Musk needed to barter down the worth, and delivered the valuation agreed months in the past,” mentioned Devendra Agrawal, founding father of funding agency Dexter Capital Advisors and Parag Agrawal’s IIT-B batchmate.

“Such an impressive efficiency for a CEO who’s but to show 40 means his profession is simply getting began,” he added whereas recalling that Agrawal’s “calm manner” in a disaster was second nature.

Agrawal’s meteoric rise is seen with some satisfaction and amazement by buddies from school, who keep in mind his “nerdy jokes” and “distinctive brilliance”. Amit Chandel, Co-founder and CTO of Bengaluru-based SmartCoin Financials remembers how Agrawal used to complete open e-book exams approach earlier than deadline, astounding professors. He was additionally the go-to man for pre-exam doubts, the kinds solely the true-blue nerds can resolve. “He has been an issue solver, and it confirmed in how he dealt with powerful conditions throughout his decade-long stint at Twitter,” he added.

However the India-born technocrat’s year-long stint as CEO had its starting couched in disaster and drama. In January 2021, Donald Trump, who was then the US President, was ousted from the platform. Trump’s eviction from the platform had triggered intense debates on what have been the duties and rights of the platform in upholding “freedom of speech” whereas additionally not permitting it for use to incite societal discord.

“After (Jack) Dorsey moved on from the position, Agrawal did little to evolve Twitter’s technique because it struggled to retain its former reverence and relevance available in the market,” mentioned HFS Analysis’s CEO Phil Fersht whereas declaring that “ his ( Agrawal’s )monetary and technical capabilities are usually not it any doubt, however he lacked imaginative and prescient and management in a enterprise that actually wanted it. “

For Musk, the Trump ouster, amongst different issues, was a critical concern referring to moderation coverage, algorithmic practices, and political stance. In April, Musk made the $44-b provide to purchase Twitter. Since then, Twitter’s inner coverage making and response to Musk’s advances turned open matters of debate, turning an unrelenting glare on Agrawal’s management and choices.

Twitter sued Musk in July for performing in “dangerous religion,” after Musk withdrew his provide citing unclear knowledge over bots. A US choose instructed Musk to observe via together with his provide or face trial, after which Musk made good on his provide final week.

“Parag Agrawal did a superb job upholding the corporate valuation and Twitter shareholders owe him an awesome debt,” HFS’s Fersht mentioned.

The Twitter inventory which had dropped to $32.65 in early July, after Musk introduced he was withdrawing the provide, had climbed 64% to $53.7 a bit on Friday.

Agrawal didn’t reply to requests for remark from ET.

He’s anticipated to obtain a pay-out of $42 million upon his exit at Twitter. Together with Agrawal and Gadde, CFO Ned Segal was additionally let go by Twitter, in keeping with experiences.

The 38-year previous Agrawal ranks among the many youthful lot of Indian-origin CEOs operating Huge Tech corporations. With Sundar Pichai of Google at 50, Satya Nadella of Microsoft at 55, and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe at 59, Agrawal has larger probabilities of getting into the C-suite of a number of Huge Tech corporations that dot the Silicon Valley, business watchers mentioned. His sturdy know-how background – he was CTO at Twitter previous to elevation and led a number of futuristic initiatives – would imply his future stints would possibly think about his managerial and tech expertise at Twitter.

Agrawal performed a key position in Twitter’s Bluesky programme. In keeping with a notice put out by the Bluesky Twitter deal with, it is a new protocol to run a social community with a number of ‘decentralised’ ideas. Account portability, for instance: you may transfer your social media account from one community supplier to a different.

Hemant Mohapatra, companion at Lightspeed India, mentioned in a Tweet on Saturday that Agrawal’s actual profession was “simply getting began.” “Frankly the one one popping out of the Twitter debacle trying good is Parag. Large turnaround and shareholder worth creation, dignified management in opposition to 24*7 chaos, made Elon bend to observe via, shipped code…”