Elon Musk takes over Twitter and dismisses the CEO immediately
According to many sources, Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter and fired its CEO as well as at least two other key executives.
Two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday night that CEO Parag Agrawal, as well as Twitter’s chief financial officer and top lawyer, had been fired.
The insiders did not specify whether all of the paperwork for the $44 billion purchase had been signed or whether it had closed.
However, they stated that Musk is in control of the social networking platform. Because of the sensitive nature of the personnel movements, neither source wanted to be identified.
When approached by CBS News, Twitter did not immediately react to a request for clarification, but Musk himself tweeted late Thursday that “the bird is liberated,” alluding to Twitter’s renowned emblem and signaling he was actually in command.
The decision to conclude the deal, which came a day before a court-mandated deadline, follows a dramatic six-month chase in which the billionaire launched his surprise offer for Twitter this spring, only to change course in July and announce his withdrawal.
His rapid removal of Twitter’s top two executives heralds a period of tremendous upheaval for the social media firm. And it’s anyone’s guess where Musk, a serial entrepreneur whose firms have revolutionized the payments, car, and space exploration sectors, will take Twitter next.
Now comes the difficult part.
“As we’ve noted, Musk’s easy part was buying Twitter,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a report. “The tough part, and what appears to be an Everest-like uphill climb ahead, will be repairing this ailing asset.”
Ives went on to say that the $44 billion purchase price “will go down as one of the most overvalued tech purchases in the history of M&A deals.” He believes Twitter is worth more than $25 billion.
With Musk in charge, all eyes will be on what actions he can take to resuscitate Twitter, whose growth has slowed dramatically in recent years. According to The Washington Post, this might mean laying off up to three-quarters of Twitter’s workers in the immediate term. Musk, who has publicly stated that he overpaid for Twitter, may be tempted to cut labor expenses in order to balance the books.
More difficult will be developing a growth strategy for Twitter, whose around 238 million regular users pale in contrast to other social networks such as Facebook and TikTok. On that front, Musk has previously proposed developing a “super app” (which Musk has previously referred to as “X app”) similar to WeChat, which is used in China for everything from banking and hailing a taxi to purchasing groceries and talking with friends.
“Musk took over Twitter last night, and now huge concerns will remain about platform changes, monetization initiatives, the extent of personnel cutbacks on the horizon, and the long-term plan surrounding the ‘X’ App and maybe developing a WeChat model down the line,” Ives added.
It’s also unclear how Musk plans to amend Twitter’s user policies. In announcing his unsolicited proposal in April, he emphasized the company’s “potential to be the platform for free speech throughout the world,” while stressing that Twitter “will neither grow nor fulfill this social imperative” in its current form.
One advantage for Musk, on the other hand, is that by purchasing Twitter, he is also taking it private. That means the corporation will no longer be compelled to publicly disclose its financial performance, remuneration practices, and other information that publicly traded companies are required to publish in their securities filings.
Twitter’s management will also feel less pressure to guide the firm in a way that appeases investors, according to Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan.
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