Did Twitter Fire An Executive Who Was On Paternity Leave?

It was reported this week that Twitter’s head of consumer Kayvon Beykpour was stepping down. Was Beykpour forced out from the company while out on paternity leave?

What Happened: As Benzinga reported this week, two Twitter Inc TWTR executives are reportedly leaving the company. Beykpour shared his thoughts on the movement in a Twitter thread.

“Interrupting my paternity leave to share some final @twitter-related news: I’m leaving the company after over 7 years. The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision. Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction,” Beykpour tweeted.

The tweet mentions Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, and sure sounds like the Twitter head of consumer was fired while out on paternity leave.

Beykpour, who is the co-founder of Periscope, a live broadcasting app that was acquired by Twitter, shared several positive comments.

“I take solace in a few things: I am INSANELY proud of what our collective team achieved over the last few years, and my own contribution to this journey. Twitter’s DAU has grown by over 87% since Q2 2019 and our team has shipped bold and exciting new evolutions to the product (like Spaces, Communities, Topics, Creator tools, Safety controls) at a much much faster pace than anytime over the last decade.”

Beykpour thanked several people from Twitter, including co-founder Jack Dorsey for believing in him and Periscope.

Beykpour said he didn’t have anything to share in terms of what’s next for him, as he is “still on paternity leave!”

Related Link: People Really Want To Work At Twitter After Elon musk Buyout, Including This Celebrity 

Why It’s Important: Beykpour announced on March 29 that he would be mostly quiet on Twitter as he began paternity leave.

Coincidentally, Agrawal took paternity leave from Twitter after becoming CEO of the company and was criticized by some tech executives for taking time off.

Twitter is set to be acquired by Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk for $44 billion. Musk is a known workaholic who could consider changing Twitter’s current policy that provides 20 weeks of paternity leave for employees.

Agrawal said in late April that Twitter was planning no layoffs until the takeover deal from Musk closes later this year.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian may have said it best when referencing the firing of Beykpour.

“Damn, they did that to him on #PaternityLeave?” Ohanian tweeted.

Price Action: Twitter shares closed down 10% to $40.70 on Friday after Musk said the Twitter acquisition was being put on hold.