Elon Musk completed his A$68 billion takeover deal for Twitter, firing the company’s CEO and chief financial officer and ending a long tug-of-war with the networking firm’s board social media right before a key deadline, according to a report.
Musk finally closed a deal to take over the struggling social network Thursday afternoon, ousting CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources.
Mr. Agrawal and Mr. Segal were in the building when the deal closed and were “escorted from the building.”
Head of legal, trust and security policy Vijaya Gadde, the woman who made the decision to permanently suspend Donald Trump from Twitter, was also fired.
Ms Gadde’s firing is seen as significant because of Musk’s plans to strengthen free speech on the platform, a move some believe could bring back the former US president’s account.
Its role included handling issues such as harassment, misinformation and harmful speech. She is known for her involvement in decisions and policies made by Twitter, including the approach to issues such as harassment and harmful speech, and high-profile decisions made by Twitter.
The tech giant first blocked Trump’s Twitter handles in January last year, eventually stepping up its crackdown on his social media posts that they believe encouraged and supported the unrest at the Capitol. United States.
Ms. Gadde, the company’s head of Legal, Policy & Trust and Security Affairs, took to Twitter and said: “@realDonaldTrump’s account has been permanently suspended from Twitter due to the risk of further violence. We have also posted our policy enforcement analysis – you can read more about our decision here.”
The settlement between Musk’s legal team and Twitter’s board comes less than a day before a 5 p.m. Friday deadline imposed by Delaware Court of Chancery Judge Kathaleen McCormick . Without a settlement, Musk and Twitter would have faced opposing sides of a November trial.
Under the terms of the deal, Musk will buy Twitter at the originally agreed price of A$84.00 per share. Musk has pledged to take the company private and reshape the platform with an emphasis on free speech.
Musk signaled throughout the week that he intended to finalize the acquisition deal. The eccentric billionaire changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit” and posted a video of himself walking into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters with a sink.
Musk’s involvement has renewed discussion among Twitter employees who fear he will enact sweeping layoffs and other cost-cutting measures as he reshapes the company’s business.
Tesla’s boss took steps to reassure the skeptics. During his office visit, Musk said he had no intention of cutting 75 percent of Twitter’s workforce upon taking over, as reported by the Washington Post.
Musk also posted a lengthy message to Twitter advertisers, writing that he had no intention of turning the social media platform into a “free-for-all hellscape.” Critics had suggested that Musk’s aggressive stance on free speech would allow voices of extremism to thrive on the platform.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it’s important to the future of civilization to have a common digital square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy way, without resorting to violence,” Musk said. .
Musk’s co-investors, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, are contributing A$11 billion to the deal. Banks such as Morgan Stanley and Bank of America cover A$20.3 billion in debt financing.
During Tesla’s earnings call earlier this month, Musk admitted that he was “obviously overpaying” to buy the company, but added that he believed “the long-term potential of Twitter is an order of magnitude higher than its current value”.
While Musk’s long-term plans for Twitter remain murky, the executive has called the company “accelerating” its goal of creating an “everything app” called X. It is expected that the ‘application reflects the social media application owned by Tencent WeChat. , which offers a wide range of services ranging from payments to food delivery and ride sharing.
Earlier this month, Musk said the Twitter acquisition “probably accelerates X by 3-5 years, but I could be wrong.”
The deal closed followed a months-long saga that began in April, when Musk revealed he had taken a significant stake in Twitter. In April, Twitter’s board had accepted Musk’s offer to buy the company for A$84.00 per share, or A$68 billion.
Musk later tried to back out of the deal, citing concerns about the number of spam bots in Twitter’s user base and accusing the company of withholding key information about the issue. In July, Twitter’s board sued Musk in Delaware Court of Chancery to enforce the original A$68 billion settlement by court order. As the trial neared, Musk reversed course again and indicated he would honor the original settlement.
This article originally appeared in The New York Post and is reproduced with permission.
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