Elon Musk tweeted “the bird is freed” late Thursday after taking control of Twitter in a deal that puts him at the helm of one of the leading platforms for global discourse.

Musk completed the $44 billion takeover on the eve of a court-appointed deadline to seal his on-again, off-again deal to purchase the social media network, whose logo is a bird.

The world’s richest man Elon Musk has completed his USD 44 bn takeover of Twitter, according to a number of media reports.

Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, putting the world’s richest man in charge of the struggling social network after six months of public and legal wrangling over the deal.

Among Musk’s first moves: changing the leadership. Departures include Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal; Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal, policy and trust; Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, who joined Twitter in 2017; and Sean Edgett, who has been general counsel at Twitter since 2012, according to people familiar with the matter. Edgett was escorted out of the building, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Shareholders will be paid $54.20 per share, and Twitter will now operate as a private company. The completion caps a convoluted saga that began in January with the billionaire’s quiet accumulation of a major stake in the company, his growing exasperation with how it’s run and an eventual merger accord that he later spent months trying to unravel.

Source – Bloomberg

Elon Musk