Twitter takeover: More officials leave, gutting top management

In an expanding exodus of Twitter's top management, officials — including its advertising and marketing chiefs — left the company in the past few days, according to statements, and a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The departures come after billionaire Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover of the company last week, followed by his firing of CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, Reuters reported, citing sources.

Sarah Personette, who was chief customer officer and ad boss, tweeted on Tuesday that she resigned last week, adding to advertisers' uncertainty over how the social media company would change under Musk.

On Tuesday, Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand announced in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well.

General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to "former Twitter exec" by Monday night.

Chief marketing officer Leslie Berland, Twitter's head of product Jay Sullivan, and its vice president of global sales, Jean-Philippe Maheu, have also left, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. It was not immediately clear whether they quit or were asked to leave.

Berland tweeted a blue heart but did not give details. Caldwell declined further comment. The other five did not respond to requests for comment.

Multiple employees who spoke with Reuters said they continue to receive little communication about the future of the company. An all-staff meeting that was scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled, following the cancellation (by Twitter) of a check-in call last week.

Musk's team is meeting with advertisers this week in New York, as the company's increasingly skittish customers raise alarms about the potential for harmful content to appear next to their ads.

Hateful content has skyrocketed since Musk closed the deal. Use of racial slurs has increased by nearly 500 per cent on Twitter, said the Network Contagion Research Institute, which identifies "cyber-social threats".

• Elon Musk says he will be Twitter CEO