Elon Musk completes $44 billion Twitter deal.
Elon Musk has officially finalized his $44 billion deal to take over Twitter and has already fired the social media company's CEO, CFO, head of legal policy, trust and security, and general counsel.
Bloomberg This means that Twitter is now a private company, wholly owned by Musk.
As for layoffs, first up is Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who took over in November 2021 after co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down. Agrawal has been on Twitter for over a decade. He previously served as Chief Technology Officer.
The path seemed to be on for Agrawal, as Musk previously said he "did not trust management" with the deal. The two have also had some public litigation on Twitter, including Musk's response to a Tweet by Agrawal about "defending the company's user metrics by tweeting a poop emoji."
Texts have also surfaced showing further conflict between the two during the deal process.
'Is Twitter dying?' Feel free to tweet. Agrawal wrote to Musk on April 9, "but it's my responsibility to say that this doesn't help me make Twitter better in the current context."
Musk responded by saying, "What did you do this week," and then said, "I'm not joining the board, it's a waste of time." He also questioned his decision to go on vacation to Hawaii during the treaty negotiations.
“Shouldn't Agrawal be in the war room right now?!?” Musk's friend and investor Jason Calacanis said.
“Does occasional zoom calls count while drinking fruity cocktails at the Four Seasons?” Musk replied.
While the move was somewhat shocking, Agrawal would still walk away with 100% of the uninvested stock rewards, making an estimated $42 million.
Vijae Gadde, Twitter's head of legal, policy and trust, was responsible for enforcing and establishing the rules for the platform.
Musk has previously said he plans to make it a "less restrictive platform for free speech," in a move he feels is "necessary for a functioning democracy." Some believe these words could mean that some users who were blocked from the platform for dangerous and/or offensive content, including Donald Trump, could be reinstated under the Musk regime.
One of the senior executives officially removed from the company is Ned Segal, Executive Vice President of Financial Affairs and has been on Twitter since 2017. Finally, Attorney General Sean Edgett was also kicked out. In the company since 2012. These four probably won't be the last, as Musk reportedly plans to lay off 5.500 people in the future, or 75% of Twitter's workforce.
After inking the initial $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, Musk terminated the deal after, among other things, he said Twitter had breached the deal by saying it hadn't done enough to reveal how many spambots and fake accounts were on the platform. He was sued for this termination and would go to court if he didn't complete the deal by October 28, but he did so right away.
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