After long months of legal battles between Twitter and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man has finally completed his acquisition of the social media microblogging platform, just in time with court orders. The billionaire had until Friday to complete his acquisition or risk facing trials. Following his acquisition of Twitter, the company’s CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal have reportedly left the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. They will not be returning to their positions. The company’s head of legal policy, trust, and safety, Vijaya Gadde was also reportedly removed from his position at the company.
Elon Musk has since taken to his Twitter to share the news with a tweet that reads “the bird is freed.”
He has also added “Chief Twit” which refers to his takeover as CEO, to his Twitter bio.
The billionaire first announced his intention to buy Twitter in April after turning down a seat on the company’s board. He declared his intention to make Twitter a platform for free speech and this received many criticisms from international bodies and even human rights organizations. He also condemned the ban on former US President Donald Trump and intimated plans to restore his account, even though the latter has no plans of returning to the platform and has since started his social media company called Truth Social.
Soon enough, Elon Musk began dragging his feet with the acquisition and eventually declared that he wish to terminate the deal. Twitter sued him stating that Elon Musk “refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.”
With a pending case in court, Elon Musk had a change of heart in October and said he wished to continue with the acquisition, and at the original price of $44 billion or $54.20 per share on the condition that Twitter drops all the charges against him. A Delaware Chancery Court judge eventually gave the billionaire the ultimatum of October 28 to complete the deal or face a trial.
“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. 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,” Elon Musk wrote in a message on Thursday.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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