Elon Musk officially takes over Twitter after closing $US44-billion deal: reports – National | Globalnews.ca

Billionaire Elon Musk is now officially in charge of Twitter and has fired several top executives after closing his US$44-billion deal to buy the social media company on Thursday, according to multiple reports.

The Washington Post, Reuters and CNBC all reported the news of Musk’s takeover, citing anonymous sources who were familiar with the move.

CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and legal policy chief Vijaya Gadde were escorted out of Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco after the deal was completed, the sources said.

The closing of the deal caps a months-long saga that saw Musk, the founder and owner of Tesla and SpaceX, first offer to buy the social media platform and then try to walk away, sparking a court battle.

Musk agreed to return to his original offer earlier this month, and was given until Friday to complete the deal. The two sides would have been forced to return to court had the deal not been closed.

He had previously accused the outgoing executives of misleading him over the number of spam accounts on the platform and criticized them over content moderation and other issues, leading to his attempt to back away from the purchase.

More to come…

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