Elon Musk Fires Twitter Executives Immediately After Purchasing Company
Elon Musk is the new owner of Twitter, and in his first act, fired some of the company's top executives.
Elon Musk swept in to Twitter headquarters on Wednesday afternoon as its new owner, and like the mythical Conan, he crushed his enemies, saw them driven before him, and is now hearing the lamentations of internet keyboard warriors. According to a report by Deadline, by Thursday afternoon, Musk had fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Head of Legal Policy, Trust, and Safety Vijaya Gadde, after officially closing his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform. “The bird is freed,” he proclaimed on Twitter.
Musk’s purchase ends a tumultuous period for both Twitter and the SpaceX founder, who were on the verge of legal action if the billionaire did not follow through on his pledge to buy the social media giant. It also follows a very public back-and-forth between Musk and Twitter executives, including CEO Agrawal, who openly disagreed with him over his contention that Twitter was overrun with bot accounts, far more than they were willing to publicly admit to.
As of Friday afternoon, Agrawal’s Twitter account bio still had him listed as “CEO Twitter.” Meanwhile, Elon Musk updated his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit,” claiming in a Friday morning tweet “Let the good times roll.”
The purchase of Twitter began as a joke of sorts for Elon Musk, who seems to enjoy posting provocative statements just to read the responses, until the idea seemed to captivate him. Promising to put an end to “shadow banning” and restoring what he said would be “free speech” and an end to censorship, Musk waged a public PR battle to win support and drive the price of the company down.
Now comes the task of remaking Twitter into something Musk claims will be more profitable and accommodating to diverse opinions. That included a demand that Twitter employees actually start working at the office, after an insider claimed employees using pandemic restrictions to work at home weren’t actually doing anything.
In a statement, Musk took a more measured tone, promising civility and a healthy atmosphere for debate. “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,” he said. He also said he would work to prevent the platform from turning into “echo chambers” for the “far right wing” and “far left wing.”
Although the deal looked to be all but dead over the summer, as a potential trial date neared, and Elon Musk was set to have to pay a potential billion dollar fee for backing out of the deal, talks heated back up. A month ago, reports surfaced that the deal would likely happen after all.
He recently even started selling a perfume called “Burnt Hair,” saying it was a fundraising effort so he could buy Twitter. It quickly sold out – at $100 a bottle – and ships next year.
Some Twitter users are now promising to delete their Twitter accounts in protest of Musk taking over, claiming he is a tool of the far right and will allow misinformation to be posted on the platform. That included director Rob Reiner, who promised to delete his account, only to pledge this morning to stay on the platform and “fight.”
Elon Musk will end up paying just over $54 a share for the company, and during negotiations, concerns over the true value of the company sent the stock price down to about $35 this spring. Yesterday, the stock closed at $53.40 as its value has risen with news that Musk’s acquisition was being finalized.
