Twitter Agarwal Goes on Paternity Leave
The head of Twitter, Parag Agarwal and his wife Vineeta Agarwal are expecting their second child. His move to take paternity leave is being lauded. (photo Instagram)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (IANS) –Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, 37, is taking “a few weeks” of paternity leave for the birth of his second child, the micro-blogging platform has confirmed.
Indian American Agrawal, who became Twitter CEO in Nov. last year and is the executive sponsor of Twitter’s internal parents’ community, plans to be “connected” with the company’s executive team during his leave.
“It’s a personal decision, and we created a parental leave program (supporting up to 20 weeks of flexible leave) that is customizable for that reason,” Laura Yagerman, head of corporate communications at Twitter, told The Verge.
The company has not named an interim CEO to handle the daily affairs while Agrawal is on leave.
According to the most recent data from the World Policy Analysis Centre, the average paid maternity leave around the world is 29 weeks, and the average paid paternity leave is 16 weeks.
Earlier, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, took two months paternal leave after the births of his daughters in 2015 and 2017.
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian took 16 weeks of paternity leave in 2017 when his wife, tennis star Serena Williams, gave birth to their daughter.
Twitter, under new CEO Agrawal, posted robust results for its Dec. quarter of 2021, as revenue reached $1.57 billion (with ad revenue of $1.41 billion) — both up 22 per cent (on-year) — driven by ongoing revenue product improvements, solid sales execution and a continued increase in advertiser demand.
The micro-blogging platform reported 217 million average mDAU (monetisable daily active users), up 13 per cent, driven by product improvements, as well as global conversation around current events.
“Our strong 2021 performance positions us to improve execution and deliver on our 2023 goals. We are more focused and better organized to deliver improved personalization and selection for our audience, partners, and advertisers,” said Agrawal.
