In response to Twitter’s announcement on Thursday that it will shut down Vine, the video platform’s founder Rus Yusupov threw some shade at the social network.
Don’t sell your company!
— Rus (@rus) October 27, 2016
According to TechCrunch, Yusupov didn’t know that Twitter was shutting down the service until the publication contacted him earlier Thursday morning.
Many responded to Yusupov on Twitter with the hashtag #BuyVineBack. However, some jabbed the co-founder about selling the company for millions: “Once you sell, you lose control. In this case, you also make millions. Give and take,” tweeted one user.
Yusupov was laid off by Twitter a year ago after having started Vine in June of 2012 along with Dom Hofmann and Colin Kroll. They sold the service to Twitter that October before the mobile app even launched — TechCrunch says the transaction totaled $30 million.
On Thursday, Twitter announced it would shut down Vine. While the service’s website will stay online so users can still watch the videos, the mobile app will be discontinued, meaning that no new content will be created.
Over the years, the platform became popular among its so-called stars, including Cameron Dallas, Nash Grier and Andrew Bachelor, a.k.a. King Bach.
On the same day, Twitter announced plans to cut 9 percent of its global workforce.
The company also sent employees packing last year when co-founder Jack Dorsey took over as chief executive officer. Twitter wanted to sell itself and continues to lose money, but has managed to remain relevant to its users.