A high-ranking Twitter staffer who was fired while on paternity leave says he's 'disappointed' but hopes that Twitter's 'best days are still ahead of it' as Elon Musk finalizes his $44 billion takeover.

Head of consumer product Kayvon Beykpour was fired on Thursday as Musk cracks the whip following his purchase of the social media giant.

'The truth is that this isn't how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn't my decision. [CEO] Parag [Agrawal] asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction,' Beykpour said.

The Stanford graduate - who joined the company in 2015 - said little about Musk's plans for the future.

He praised his team for their work on new products and safety controls as worried workers wonder if Musk will roll back the site's extensive content moderation apparatus.

'I'm proud that we changed the perception around Twitter's pace of innovation, and proud that we shifted the culture internally to make bigger bets, move faster, and eliminate sacred cows,' said the ousted Iranian-American tech executive.

General manager for revenue Bruce Falck has also been unceremoniously axed after the billionaire's buyout.