The Deal Is Done: Elon Musk Finally Owns Twitter

Several top executives, including the CEO, reportedly have been fired.

A monthslong saga has finally concluded: Elon Musk owns Twitter.

The deal was closed Thursday night, according to CNBC. CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and head of legal, policy, and safety Vijaya Gadde have been fired, according to the Washington Post. Twitter and representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.

The drama began in early April, when Musk bought a 9.2% share in the company, making him Twitter’s largest shareholder. He was offered a seat on the board, something that former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey seemed excited about. A few days later, Musk turned down the board seat and made an offer to buy the whole company for $44 billion.

But Musk soon showed signs of buyer’s remorse, trying to back out of the deal by claiming Twitter had more bots than it had let on. In July, Twitter filed a lawsuit compelling Musk to either go through with the purchase or pay the $1 billion breakup fee. The parties were able to resolve matters before having to appear in Delaware chancery court, but not before a set of Musk’s texts with Agrawal and various other influential people were released as part of the lawsuit.

Twitter employees have not been thrilled about the new boss. After a report emerged that Musk planned to fire up to 75% of the workforce, Twitter employees drafted an open letter demanding fair treatment under the new regime.

On Wednesday, the father of (at least) eight visited Twitter’s San Francisco office, carrying a porcelain sink. “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” Musk tweeted.

Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!

Twitter: @elonmusk

During the visit, Musk reportedly told workers he did not intend to cut 75% of them. The next day, in an apparent attempt to calm advertisers who are worried that he will allow the platform to fall back into being a honeypot for assholes, the self-described “free speech absolutist” tweeted that the platform “obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”

Musk also explained his rationale for purchasing the platform: “I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love.”

The closure of the deal and the firing of top executives have not been immediately communicated internally to Twitter employees. One staffer told BuzzFeed News they learned about the deal closing by seeing a tweet from @PopCrave.

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