Elon Musk has finally completed his $44 billion Twitter takeover deal, and fired the company’s CEO and financial chief thus ending a lengthy tug-of-war with its board of directors just before a key deadline.
Musk took the struggling social network private late Thursday, ousting Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal.
The agreement between Musk’s legal team and Twitter’s board was reached less than a day before the 5 p.m. Friday deadline imposed by Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick. Without a deal, Musk and Twitter would have clashed on opposite sides of a November trial.
Reps for Musk and Twitter officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Under the deal’s terms, Musk will buy Twitter at the originally-agreed price of $54.20 per share. Musk has vowed to take the company private and reshape the platform with an emphasis on free speech.
Musk had signalled throughout the week that he intended to finalize the takeover deal. The eccentric billionaire changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit” and posted a video of himself barging into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters carrying a sink.
Musk’s involvement has renewed hand-wringing from Twitter employees who fear he will enact sweeping layoffs and other cost-cutting measures while reshaping the company’s business.
The Tesla boss took steps to assure sceptics during his official visit, stating that he had no intention of slashing 75 per cent of Twitter’s workforce upon taking control, as the Washington Post had reported.
