Elon Musk wanted a 'fire-breathing dragon'; Parag Agrawal wasn't it

Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk bought for Twitter for $44 billion, back in October last year, and fired Agrawal shortly after taking over the company.

Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal was sacked by Elon Musk as he was not a 'fire-breathing dragon', according to a new book.

Elon Musk's self-titled biography, written by Walter Isaacson, throws light on the reason behind Agrawal's sacking from the helm of the microblogging site.

The book, an exclusive excerpt of which came out in The Wall Street Journal, revealed that Musk had met Agrawal over dinner in March last year, just days before the former made an initial offer to acquire Twitter (now X). According to the book, after the meeting Musk said, "He is a really nice guy, but managers should not aim to be liked. What Twitter needs is a fire-breathing dragon and Parag is not that.”

Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, back in October last year, and fired Agrawal shortly after taking over the company.

The billionaire's first two weeks as the new owner were marked by rapid change. Along with Agrawal, he quickly fired other senior leaders and then laid off half the staff in November.

Musk, a self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist, had said he took over Twitter to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.

He also said he would "defeat" spam bots on the platform, a key area of his tussle with Twitter's board over his back and forth on the $44 billion buyout of the company.

The book, set to be released on September 12, is written by Isaacson who is also a former CEO of CNN. He spent over three years writing the biography.