Updated October 28th, 2022 at 08:07 IST

Elon Musk fires Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal & CFO Ned Segal hours after official takeover

After taking over the social media platform, Elon Musk has fired several top Twitter executives, including company's CEO Parag Agrawal.

Reported by: Apoorva Kaul
Image: AP/Unsplash | Image:self
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now the owner of Twitter as his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform is finalized. The takeover comes after the Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick gave Musk and Twitter until October 28 to close the deal. After taking over the social media platform, Musk has fired several top Twitter executives, including company's CEO Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, The Washington Post reported citing three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

One of the three people has confirmed that the deal between Twitter and Elon Musk is closed. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, head of legal, policy, trust and safety and company's general counsel Sean Edgett have been fired, as per the people cited by The Washington Post. Notably, Musk in April proposed to buy Twitter, however, he terminated his offer to acquire the social media service in July. Twitter retaliated to Musk's decision by filing a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery to force Musk to uphold the original offer. In October, Musk announced his intention to buy Twitter at the originally agreed-on price of $44 billion between both sides. 

Musk reveals reason behind acquiring Twitter 

Elon Musk in an open letter posted on the microblogging site revealed that he acquired Twitter because he thinks that it is important for the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where different beliefs can be debated in a healthy way, without turning to violence. Sharing a letter on Twitter along with the caption ‘Dear Twitter Advertiser’, Musk wrote, “I wanted to reach out personally to share my motivation in acquiring Twitter. There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising. Most of it has been wrong.” Musk claimed that he did not buy Twitter to make money but to help humanity. 

"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," Elon Musk wrote in the letter. 

“The platform obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!," he wrote in the letter. 

Musk visits Twitter Headquarters 

Ahead of a court-ordered deadline to close his $44 billion deal for the microblogging site, Elon Musk visited Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco with a kitchen sink on October 27. He tweeted a video of himself entering Twitter’s office carrying the kitchen sink, alongside the caption, “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” Musk also changed his Twitter bio, referring to himself as a "Chief Twit" and updated his location as Twitter's headquarters. 

Image: AP/Unsplash

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Published October 28th, 2022 at 08:07 IST