Elon Musk took control of Twitter and fired its top executives, US media reported late Thursday, in a deal that puts one of the top platforms for global discourse in the hands of the world’s richest man.
Musk sacked chief executive Parag Agrawal, as well as the company’s chief financial officer and its head of legal policy, trust and safety, the Washington Post and CNBC reported citing unnamed sources.
The reports came hours before the court-appointed deadline for Musk to seal his on-again, off-again deal to purchase the social media network.
Musk tweeted on Thursday that he was buying Twitter “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.”
The billionaire even shared a picture of himself socializing at a coffee bar at Twitter headquarters.
And the New York Stock Exchange posted a pending order to suspend trading in Twitter before Friday’s session.
Musk tried to step back from the Twitter deal soon after his unsolicited offer was accepted in April, and said in July he was canceling the contract because he was misled by Twitter over the number of fake “bot” accounts — allegations rejected by the company.
Twitter, in turn, sought to prove Musk was contriving excuses to walk away simply because he changed his mind.
After Musk sought to terminate the sale, Twitter filed a lawsuit to hold Musk to the agreement.
With a trial looming, the unpredictable billionaire capitulated and revived his takeover plan.
Musk signaled the deal was on track this week by changing his Twitter profile to “Chief Twit” and posting a video of himself walking into the company’s California headquarters carrying a sink.
“Let that sink in!” he quipped.