CEO of Tesla and SpaceX closed the deal to acquire Twitter on the evening of October 27. Until now, Elon Musk is known to have fired most of Twitter’s executives.
The billionaire and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, finalized the acquisition of Twitter on the afternoon of October 27, hours after presenting himself at the social network’s facilities with a toilet cabinet. According to BBC World News, the transaction was for US$44 billion, hours before the deadline for the billionaire to seal his deal to buy the social network.
Musk’s initial moves as the owner of Twitter included the firing of CEO Parag Agrawal, who went to court to force the Tesla boss to honor the terms of a takeover deal he had tried to escape from, the Washington Post and CNBC reported, citing unidentified sources.
Twitter employees shared photos during the afternoon of October 27, where Elon Musk is seen in a meeting in the middle of the company cafeteria. Later, CNBC and the Washington Post reported that the billionaire had “shown up” at the facility as the owner of the company.
Later, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal were reported to have left the company’s San Francisco headquarters. Even the head of Twitter legal policy, Vijaya Gadde, who made the decision to close the account of Donald Trump (former president of the United States), was also fired.
According to the media, at least one of the fired executives was escorted by members of security outside Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco (California, USA).
The billionaire had until October 28 to complete his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter or face a lengthy court battle to finalize the purchase of the company. Since April, the social network and Elon Musk exchanged legal accusations and were destined to face each other in the court of Delaware, United States.
Musk Holds Meetings with Twitter Employees
According to CNBC, not all Twitter employees seem “enthusiastic” about Elon Musk, after leaking a report revealing his intentions to lay off up to 75% of the staff, for which the workers wrote a letter demanding “fair treatment” by the new administration.
Previously, Elon Musk justified his purchase of Twitter as follows:
“The reason I bought Twitter is because it is important for the future of civilization to have a common digital public space, where a wide range of beliefs can be discussed in a healthy way, without resorting to violence. There is currently a great danger that social media will split into far-right and far-left echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
The tycoon indicated that Twitter “cannot become a free hell for everyone, where anything can be said without consequences”, but rather that “the laws must be respected”.
Musk’s Partnerships to Acquire Twitter
Earlier this week, one sign of a Twitter takeover was the confirmation that came in a call with banks including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays, each of which pledged $2.5 billion in loans for Musk’s acquisition.
In total, Musk’s seven banking partners pledged around $13 billion. Binance is another investor in the acquisition, having pledged $500 million. Other investors backing Musk include the Qatar Investment Authority and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.
Musk has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist” and has as usual attracted the attention of the crypto community due to his personal fondness for Dogecoin (DOGE).
By Audy Castaneda
