Elon Musk completes Twitter purchase

Twitter

Elon Musk has now bought the short message service after a long back and forth.

(Photo: Reuters)

San Francisco According to media reports, Elon Musk has taken control of the short message service Twitter. The $44 billion purchase has been completed, according to CNBC, New York Times, Bloomberg and Insider, among others. There was initially no response from Twitter to a Handelsblatt request.

In one of his first acts, Musk is said to have fired several top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and Ned Segal. The New York Times reported that at least one top executive was seen being escorted by security from Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters.

Musk had until Friday to complete the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter or take the company to court. Musk had already visited the Twitter headquarters on Wednesday and spoke to employees. Trading in Twitter shares will be suspended from Friday, according to the New York Stock Exchange.

Wedbusch analyst Dan Ives said, “Twitter’s $44 billion price tag will go down in history as one of the most overpaid tech acquisitions.” A realistic estimate for the platform would be around $25 billion ives Musk was not able to get out of the purchase.

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The fired executives at Twitter are to receive millions in severance pay, Insider reported. Agrawal will get $38.7 million and Segal $25.4 million. Commercial director Sarah Personette had tweeted hours earlier that she had had a very good conversation with Musk. She too is said to have been released.

The further course of Twitter under the leadership of Elon Musk was initially unclear. Musk is said to have announced to investors that he would lay off 75 percent of Twitter employees. However, Twitter and Musk had called this number a false statement.

>> Also read: Report: Musk wants to drastically reduce headcount at Twitter

Elon Musk announced in April that he would buy Twitter. He had signed a purchase contract and said in advance that he would refrain from an intensive audit. Musk then accused Twitter management of understating the number of fake accounts on the platform.

Musk ended up terminating the purchase agreement. Twitter then filed a lawsuit against Musk to force the purchase.

In early October, Musk changed his mind and said he wants to go ahead with the acquisition of Twitter at the original price of $54.20 per share if the social media outlet drops its litigation. Twitter’s lawyers were suspicious of Musk’s motives, saying the Tesla boss’s proposal was an invitation to further mischief and delay.

A Delaware court judge finally ruled that Musk had until October 28 to close the Twitter deal or go to court.

Musk wrote an open letter to Twitter advertisers on Thursday. Musk said Twitter shouldn’t become a “place of horror” where anything can be said without consequences. The platform must be “warm and welcoming to everyone”.

Musk had previously justified the purchase with the desire to strengthen freedom of speech. Critics are concerned that the change in ownership will result in less moderated content on the network, fueling hatred and hate speech. That could deter advertisers.

Technology investor Sriram Krishnan of fund a16z said: “I’m really excited about the future of Twitter. This platform has given me and countless others so much.”

More: Deadline for Twitter takeover on Friday – the most important questions and answers

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