A pair of Twitter executives have left the company as the social network undergoes a shakeup ahead of any takeover deal by billionaire Elon Musk.

On Thursday, Twitter's consumer head Keyvon Beykpour announced he would exit the company after joining seven years ago. In a tweet, Beykpour said that the decision to leave was not one he made himself but that he was asked to leave by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.

"The truth is that this isn’t how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn’t my decision," Beykpour wrote, noting what he considered his achievements as an executive at Twitter. "I am INSANELY proud of what our collective team achieved over the last few years, and my own contribution to this journey."

Joining Beykpour out the door of Twitter is revenue product lead Bruce Falck. Unlike Beykpour, Falck did not delve into the circumstances of his departure, but credited his team as a group of "unsung heroes" who make Twitter "what it is."

The exit of two high-level Twitter executives comes at a time of important changes when the company accepted Musk’s $44 billion for his takeover bid on April 25. Musk, who said he would serve as acting CEO if his bid is finalized, was not invoked as a reason by either executive but the Tesla founder has elevated criticism against Twitter executives in the midst of his takeover bid.

Musk’s takeover has not yet been finalized by regulators, but the deal has faced scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC is investigating Musk’s late disclosure in March of his stake in Twitter. The investigation is unlikely to derail the Twitter deal, according to the Journal.

At the same time, Twitter has instituted a hiring freeze as part of a wider cost-cutting initiative. According to an internal memo by Agrawal, the company is cutting back on costs based on the “general economic environment” and the war in Ukraine.

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