Elon Musk buys Twitter, fires CEO and CFO

Elon Musk has concluded his purchase of Twitter, immediately firing two senior executives.

Closing the deal ends a months-long saga of whether Mr. Musk would or wouldn’t purchase the company. Picture: Samuel Corum / AFP

Elon Musk completed his takeover of Twitter Inc., and fired the CEO and CFO, according to people familiar with the matter, capping an unusual corporate takeover battle and setting up one of the world’s most influential social-media platforms for potentially broad change.

Mr. Musk first agreed to buy Twitter in April for $US44 billion, then threatened to walk away from the deal, before reversing course again this month and committing to see through the acquisition.

The deal, in which Twitter will again become a private company, adds to Mr. Musk’s expansive business reach, which also includes running Tesla Inc., the world’s most-valuable car company, and rocket company Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, among other endeavors. Mr. Musk, who had become Twitter’s largest individual shareholder, previously said he would pay for the acquisition mostly with cash, some contributed by co-investors, and $13 billion in debt.

Mr. Musk fired Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal after the deal closed, the people said. Spokespeople for Twitter didn’t comment.

It wasn’t immediately clear who would step into those top positions. CNBC previously reported the firings.

Mr. Musk also fired Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top legal and policy executive, and Sean Edgett, general counsel.

Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

There were signs this week indicating that Mr. Musk was moving closer to acquiring the social-media platform by Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline. Banks started sending money backing the deal, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Musk also has changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit,” showed himself walking into the San Francisco headquarters of the social-media platform, and issued a statement on Twitter explaining his vision for the site to advertisers.

Closing the deal ends a monthslong saga of whether Mr. Musk would or wouldn’t purchase the company. The deal also would put one of the world’s most prominent social-media platforms under the control of the world’s richest person, with implications for the future of online discourse.

A self-described free-speech absolutist, Mr. Musk has pledged to limit content moderation in favor of emphasizing free speech. However, that approach risks causing conflicts with some advertisers, politicians and users who would prefer a more moderated platform.

In a message to advertisers on Twitter on Thursday, Mr. Musk said he was buying the company to “have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.” He said Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”

At Twitter headquarters’ coffee bar, ⁦@elonmusk⁩ pic.twitter.com/vy5Cw7zttf

— Walter Isaacson (@WalterIsaacson) October 27, 2022

Mr. Musk said the platform must be “warm and welcoming to all” and suggested Twitter could let people “choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”

Mr. Musk’s decision to go through with the Twitter takeover came two weeks before a trial in Delaware was set to begin over the stalled deal. The judge presiding over the legal clash agreed to pause the litigation, granting a request by Mr. Musk for more time to complete the takeover. The judge gave Mr. Musk until Oct. 28 to follow through with his offer, or said she would schedule a November trial.

Mr. Musk offered in April to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share—higher than the company was valued at the time. In the months since the deal was struck, Twitter has faced efforts by Mr. Musk to abandon the deal, a whistleblower complaint in which Twitter’s former head of security accused the company of security and privacy problems, and unsuccessful talks to negotiate a lower price with Mr. Musk.

The Wall Street Journal