According to a filing with the US government, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has completed his $44 billion (£38.1 billion) buyout of Twitter.
According to insiders, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal have departed the company’s San Francisco headquarters and will not be returning. According to The Washington Post, Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal policy, trust, and safety, was also fired.
Mr Musk tweeted “the bird is freed” and later said “let the good times roll”.
The agreement puts an end to months of legal bickering, but it raises concerns about the platform’s future direction.
On Thursday, the transaction was confirmed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Musk had until Friday to finalize his $44 billion purchase of Twitter or face legal action from the company.
Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, appeared to confirm the executives’ departure. He congratulated all three in a tweet for their “collective contribution to Twitter,” describing them as “massive talents” and “beautiful humans.”
Meanwhile, Bret Taylor, who had been Twitter’s chairman since last November, updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his departure.
Mr Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has blasted Twitter’s management and moderation rules.
They fought over the terms of the acquisition, with Mr Musk accusing Twitter of supplying false information about the company’s user counts.
He has also stated that he will lift bans on suspended users, which may include former US President Donald Trump, who was barred following the January 2021 Capitol incident.
Twitter warned at the moment that Mr Trump could provoke greater violence. Mr. Musk, on the other hand, has called the restriction “foolish.”
Mr Musk stated earlier this week that he does not want the platform to become an echo chamber for hate and divisiveness. “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hell-scape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” he tweeted.
The deal has sparked debate among Twitter users about how the platform will appear under Mr Musk’s leadership.
There are concerns that more permissive free speech regulations will allow users who have been banned for hate speech or disinformation to return to the platform. Along with Mr. Trump, this might include political fanatics, QAnon supporters, and Covid-19 denialists.
In response to Mr. Musk’s letter, Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for the internal market, tweeted, “In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules,” implying that regulators will be stern on any relaxation of Twitter’s policies.
Mr Musk is a controversial personality, in addition to being the world’s richest person, with a fortune of $250 billion.
He amassed his money through the electric automobile startup Tesla and the space exploration company Space X. However, he has garnered additional notoriety for his outspoken engagement in unrelated subjects, frequently via Twitter, ranging from geopolitical issues such as the crisis in Ukraine to the rescue of schoolboys trapped in a Thai cave.
It is unclear whether the purge of senior management is a precursor to company-wide job layoffs. Earlier rumors said that 75% of the social media business’ employees would be laid off, but those claims were “inaccurate,” according to Ross Gerber, a shareholder un both Twitter and Mr Musk’s other company Tesla.
“There are a lot of talented people at Twitter, especially on the engineering side and they want to retain as much of that talent as possible,” Mr Gerber told the BBC.
But he said the job losses could nevertheless extend far beyond upper management. Mr Musk might look to cut product managers and end projects “that aren’t going anywhere” he said.
