Finally, Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44bn, fires CEO and CFO

After a protracted legal dispute that lasted seven long months and uncertainty surrounding the takeover of the microblogging site, Twitter, the deal has finally come to a close.

Elon Musk reportedly completed the transaction on Thursday, a few hours before the deadline set by the Delaware court overseeing the dispute. and a few hours after he visited the Twitter HQ in San Francisco.

Twitter has not yet confirmed the takeover, but some investors confirmed the sale to BBC some hours ago.

However, it seems Elon Musk had a very active first day, as reports confirm that the billionaire fired a number of Twitter’s senior executives following the closure of his recent transaction.

Among those recently fired are the CEO, Parag Agrawal, the CFO, Ned Segal, the Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust, Vijaya Gadde, and the General Counsel, Sean Edgett.

In the end, these executives are not overly surprised by this, especially given their prior stances on a few issues. The accusations against Gadde regarding her participation in policy decision-making and censorship, which Elon Musk, a self-described fervent advocate of free expression, condemned and referred to as “left-wing prejudice,” may be the cause of her own dismissal.

For Parag Agrawal, since his public appointment in November 2021, The Twitter CEO has been at odds with the Tesla CEO. During the deal acquisition phase and the court battles, conversation logs indicating a fallout between the two leaked online, which may have contributed to Agrawal’s own dismissal.

Elon Musk has announced the deal’s completion on his Twitter account and changed his location to Twitter Headquarters while the company undergoes all this purging.

Elon Musk’s dreams for Twitter

For Elon Musk, he has said that this is not one of his new money-making schemes. He has over time shown his passion and solidarity for free speech and that seems to be what will drive his new motivation for Twitter.

The billionaire plans to reevaluate Twitter’s content moderation policies and also review the ban policy rules, raising speculations that a number of previously banned users in the platform could reemerge including the former president of the United States, Donald Trump and Kanye West (Ye).

He also intends to make the platform more aware of fake bots, which were a big factor in the takeover deal’s protracted delay.

At the end of the day, fans are looking up to Musk to fundamentally alter the media and political landscape, transform the online public debate, and radically alter the embryonic conservative social media space, which was mostly formed in response to concerns about limits and bans on Twitter and other mainstream sites.

My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization

Elon Musk

It’s unclear what Elon Musk’s strategy is for the new board of directors and management, but he has a reputation for making snap decisions in situations like these.

Read Also: Elon Musk has to close Twitter buyout deal on Friday or face court trial

The Elon Musk versus Twitter Saga

The tumult began in April of this year when the billionaire started fiddling with the notion of acquiring Twitter. Later, for $3 billion, he acquired 9.2% of the company, making him the largest stakeholder.

He didn’t, however, stop there. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX announced his intention to purchase Twitter for $44 billion for $54.20 per share less than ten fatal days later. People weren’t ready for the Tesla CEO to assume control of the microblogging site, thus the move prompted a lot of rumours.

However, Twitter accepted this offer, and this is when things started to become a little more serious with legal actions and takeover strategy plans.

In July, Musk declared his desire to end the contract, claiming that Twitter had broken the terms by refusing to take action against spambot accounts. Twitter, however, did not believe Musk’s motives were sincere, and they sued him, essentially forcing him to proceed with the acquisition.

Read Also: Big question: What are Twitter bots? And, why is Elon Musk agitated about them?

The court case began on October 17th. The Delaware court, however, mandated that both sides come to a final agreement over the deal’s completion before today or get ready for a more protracted legal dispute.

This prompted the business mogul to take his plans seriously, and this week alone, Elon Musk demonstrated incredible dedication by finishing the deal, meeting with his banks to complete the financial details, and engaging with the Twitter team.

Finally, the millionaire CEO of Tesla has completed the acquisition of Twitter.