Elon Musk has closed his $44 billion deal to take Twitter private, according to three people familiar with the matter, ending one of the most high-profile and dramatic buyout sagas in recent memory after months of legal wrangling among the richest man in the world. and the social media platform.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal are no longer with the company, two of the people said, as the billionaire entrepreneur now takes the reins. Musk also fired Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of legal, policy and security, as well as general counsel Sean Edgett, one of the people said.
Shares of Twitter will be suspended from trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, according to the exchange’s website.
It concludes an acquisition that has been both unpredictable and unprecedented, and puts Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” at the helm of a platform popular with global politicians and trusted by millions of users. ‘worldwide for news. .
Musk has promised to cut jobs and costs at Twitter, while boosting product innovation in a bid to build a “super app” that incorporates payments, commerce and messaging.
He has also promised to loosen content moderation rules on the platform, including lifting permanent bans, and pave the way for former US President Donald Trump, who was ousted in the wake of the attack on January 6, 2021 in the United States Capitol, back to the platform.
Musk is expected to act as chief executive until he chooses new leadership. He has already begun to embrace his new role with characteristic bombast, visiting Twitter’s San Francisco office on Wednesday to meet with staff while carrying a sink, tweeting “Let it sink in” and changing his profile from Twitter to read “Chief Twit”.
He also told some employees he did not intend to cut 75 percent of jobs, dismissing an earlier report, a person familiar with the situation said.
Taking a more serious tone Thursday, Musk sought to reassure advertisers, who account for most of the platform’s $5 billion in annual revenue, that Twitter would not become “a hellscape free-for-all” and that ” aspired to be the most respected advertising platform in the world”.
Musk had originally agreed in April to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share. A few months later, he sued the San Francisco-based company to back out of the deal, alleging the platform misled investors and regulators about fake accounts and cybersecurity. The social media company backed down and countersued in an attempt to force the billionaire to close the acquisition, sparking a bitter legal battle and discovery process.
A few weeks before the two were due to face off in a Delaware court over the matter, Musk announced that he was willing to buy the company at the originally agreed upon price if the legal action was dropped. Twitter resisted an immediate settlement, and the court ordered the parties to find a way to close the deal by Oct. 28 or face a November trial.
CNBC first reported the news of Agrawal and Segal’s departure. Twitter declined to comment on the deal’s closing or exits. A representative for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.