‘The Bird is Free: Musk Now in Charge of Twitter After Dismissal of Former Top Execs
(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 3, 2020 Tesla CEO Elon Musk talks to media as he arrives to visit the construction site of the future US electric car giant Tesla, in Gruenheide near Berlin. –
Twitter earlier accepted Elon Musk’s $44 billion proposal to purchase the company and take it private in April; however, within a few months, the South African native backtracked after claiming the firm failed to disclose the amount of fake accounts on the platform. After months of back and forth, Musk had until Friday to complete the acquisition.Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has officially taken over Twitter after the social media company’s former leaders departed the firm’s headquarters in San Francisco, California, it has been reported.CNBC reporter David Faber revealed on Twitter that both CEO Parag Agrawal and CEO Ned Segal had “left the company’s HQ and will not be returning as the Musk era begins.”Reuters has since detailed that both Agrawal and Segal had been “immediately” booted from the company after Musk’s takeover, adding that the pair were “escorted out” of the building. Additionally, general counsel Sean Edgett and Vijaya Gadde, who served as Twitter’s top legal and policy executive, were given pink slips, according to the New York Times.Musk, who had until Friday to close the multibillion-dollar acquisition, arrived at the San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday, and had spent the last near 48 hours meeting with engineers and advertising executives.The SpaceX founder’s opposition to Agrawal and Gadde have been known for quite some time. While Musk exchanged words with the former CEO publicly about his then-looming takeover, the entrepreneur also blasted Gadde for her role in content moderation decisions.Hours after news broke, Musk took to Twitter and sent out a message: “the bird is free.”
Viral’Chief Twit’: Elon Musk Changes Bio After Posting Video of ‘Entering Twitter HQ’26 October, 20:14 GMTEarlier Thursday, Musk issued a message directed at advertisers, underscoring that the platform would not fall into a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”“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,” Musk wrote. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far-right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”He further stated that traditional media “fueled and catered” to polarized extremes, and that such actions took away the opportunity for “dialogue.”Musk’s road to Twitter ownership initially kicked off in April before he ultimately changed his mind and attempted to back out of the deal the following month. At the time, Musk claimed Twitter had failed to disclose the number of bots and spam accounts on the platform. However, it wasn’t until after Twitter sued Musk to complete the acquisition that Musk then began to come back to the idea of buying the company. Prior to his October 4 letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which confirmed his intent to close the deal, Musk was due to be deposed on October 6 and 7.Twitter’s future largely remains uncertain as various reports indicate that as Musk intends to loosen the reins on content moderation standards, he also seeks to undertake mass layoffs. Legal findings earlier revealed that Musk is seeking to cut staffing numbers by requiring staff to return to the office. Under Agrawal, Twitter took on a more permanent policy in March of allowing remote work.
