World’s richest man, Elon Musk, has completed his $44billion purchase of Twitter, taking control of the company and reportedly firing several top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal.
Musk tweeted on Friday: “The bird is freed” in a reference to Twitter’s corporate logo, just hours before a court-ordered deadline to buy the business expired.
Shortly after taking over the helm of Twitter, Musk reportedly removed several senior figures, including Agrawal; Ned Segal, the Chief Financial Officer; and Vijaya Gadde, the Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety.
Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, Reuters reported.
Musk visited the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday, carrying a sink and meeting staff.
“Entering Twitter HQ – Let that sink in”, he captured a video that showed him walking into the glass room, carrying a sink while he chuckled.
He said he is buying the company “to try to help humanity”.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” he said in a tweet earlier on Thursday.
He also noted the acquisition of Twitter by him will ‘empower citizen journalism where people will now be able to disseminate news without an establishment bias’.
The purchase will give the world’s richest man control of an influential social media platform with more than 230 million users.