The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has completed his $44 billion (over R790 billion) takeover of Twitter and tweeted: “The bird is free”. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP)
Elon Musk has completed his $44 billion (over R790 billion) takeover of Twitter.
The world's richest man closed the deal on Thursday night, and following the takeover, two of the company's top executives, chief executive Parag Agrawal and chief financial officer Ned Segal, are said to have departed the firm, according to Bloomberg.
Referring to Twitter's logo, Larry T Bird, Elon tweeted: "the bird is freed".
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
Twitter is yet to confirm the sale of the company, but an early investor in the firm confirmed to the BBC that a deal had been completed.
The 51-year-old businessman - who is the CEO of Tesla – has changed his Twitter bio to read: "Chief Twit"
Earlier this week, Elon - who has more than 110 million followers on the platform - shared a video of himself arriving at Twitter HQ carrying a sink.
Meeting a lot of cool people at Twitter today!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022
He wrote: "Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!"
Elon also posted: "Meeting a lot of cool people at Twitter today!"
What's more, during the week, Elon used Twitter to outline his motivation for buying the platform and his vision for how it could moderate content.
He tweeted in a message called ‘Dear Twitter Advertisers’: "The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation 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 added there is a huge danger social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that could divide society, warning: "In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fuelled and catered to those polarised extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.
"Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences! In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature."
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