Posted on October 28, 2022

Elon Musk Buys Twitter, Fires CEO and CFO

Lauren Thomas and Alexa Corse, Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2022

Elon Musk completed his takeover of Twitter Inc. TWTR 0.66%increase; green up pointing triangle Thursday, and fired the CEO and CFO, according to people familiar with the matter, capping an unusual corporate takeover battle and setting up one of the world’s most influential social-media platforms for potentially broad change.

Mr. Musk first agreed to buy Twitter in April for $44 billion, then threatened to walk away from the deal, before reversing course again this month and committing to see through the acquisition.

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Mr. Musk fired Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal after the deal closed, the people said. Spokespeople for Twitter didn’t comment.

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Mr. Musk also fired Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top legal and policy executive, and Sean Edgett, general counsel.

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A self-described free-speech absolutist, Mr. Musk has pledged to limit content moderation in favor of emphasizing free speech. However, that approach risks causing conflicts with some advertisers, politicians and users who would prefer a more moderated platform.

In a message to advertisers on Twitter on Thursday, Mr. Musk said he was buying the company to “have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.” He said Twitter “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!”

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