Elon Musk finally takes control of Twitter, fires CEO and other execs

[midian182]

What just happened? The Elon Musk/Twitter saga has been ongoing for months, but the world's richest man finally took control of the platform late yesterday. His first action as head of the company? Firing several of its top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal. He's now said to be taking over the chief executive officer role himself.

It was back in mid-April when Musk made his initial offer to buy Twitter for $44 billion. He then withdrew from the deal over allegations that there are more fake/spam accounts on the site than the company claims.

Both parties looked to be heading to the courts over the matter, but Musk backtracked and agreed to the purchase at the original price. It's suspected he chose this path as the billionaire had little chance of winning a court case, though he claims he's buying Twitter to "try to help humanity."

Musk visited Twitter HQ in San Francisco yesterday carrying a sink ("Let that sink in!"). While there, he assured staff that he had no intention of firing 75% of employees, something he reportedly told investors was part of his plan to make Twitter more profitable. He officially took over on Thursday, just one day before the court-imposed deadline, which, were it not met, would have seen both parties go to court in November.

Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

He might not be firing three-quarters of its workers, but the Tesla CEO has shown several execs the door. The most significant casualty is Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal. The pair clashed during the on/off takeover, with Musk challenging Agrawal to a public debate over the fake account issue.

Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal was another to go, as was Twitter's head of legal, policy, and trust, Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett, who has been at the company for a decade.

Reuters reports that Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter HQ when the deal closed and were escorted out.

Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022

Musk previously claimed he wanted to make Twitter a bastion of free speech by reducing moderation, a claim that worried Bill Gates, but he has assured advertisers that it won't become a "free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said without consequences." Musk has already promised to overturn Twitter's permanent ban on Donald Trump.

the bird is freed

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

Following his official takeover, Musk tweeted, "the bird is free," a few hours ago. He also changed his bio to "chief twit."

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96476-elon-musk-finally-takes-control-twitter-fires-ceo.html

 

[VaRmeNsI]

But how free though?

 

[DSirius]

Time to find out if Elon will keep his word and reinstate several accounts which were banned by various reasons, but basically because Twitter censored them.
Will be interesting to hear about some accounts of Trump, Johnny Depp, etc.

List of people censored by Twitter - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

infogalactic.com

 

[mikaelad]

Wondering In what role Musk is acting if he can fire CEO? Isn’t CEO hired and fired by the board? Is the board also gone and Musk is chairman or how is the company structured now?

 

[brucek]

So will he now be fessing up to the details of the "huge bot problem", cutting advertising rates accordingly, and mass banning all those accounts? Or have we heard the last of it now that it's his company and he's no longer trying to weasel out of a deal?

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

He won’t have to fire 75% of employees anymore because many left lmao.

Wondering In what role Musk is acting if he can fire CEO? Isn’t CEO hired and fired by the board? Is the board also gone and Musk is chairman or how is the company structured now?

A board of directors is typically part of the ownership structure, and as the company is no longer publicly owned it makes sense that it would change. The owners can do whatever they like, which is why when a company is publicly owned its shareholders can vote to do whatever they want.

 

[Geralt]

I'm interested in free speech in Tweeter now. I hate censorship in all of its forms. Let's see what happens.

 

[Bobbydpue]

Wondering In what role Musk is acting if he can fire CEO? Isn’t CEO hired and fired by the board? Is the board also gone and Musk is chairman or how is the company structured now?

Elon Musk bought the company, there is no one higher in the company.

 

[fps4ever]

Go Elon! Gut every person that doesn't believe in free speech. Clean up the entire company.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

This is great. Embrace the chaos! The schadenfreude of watching twitter getting taken over by a political opponent is strong enough to power most of europe.

It's gonna end in one of 2 ways. Either A) elon is gonna obliterate twitter with much hilarity along the way, or B) twitter is actually going to end up as a decent platform for information, and the twitter bubble will be force to reconcile with the fact their worldview is hilariously incorrect. Either way, we win!

 

[PEnnn]

So, he blinked and paid full price, after trying to weasel himself out of the deal.

And what about those "millions of bots / fake accounts"?? I guess he bought them too at full price!!

 

[Avro Arrow]

I've never been so glad that I don't use Twitter. I'm willing to bet that Elon Musk is going to try to turn it into a right-wing echo chamber of hate with "free speech" as its excuse.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

He won’t have to fire 75% of employees anymore because many left lmao.

A board of directors is typically part of the ownership structure, and as the company is no longer publicly owned it makes sense that it would change. The owners can do whatever they like, which is why when a company is publicly owned its shareholders can vote to do whatever they want.

Those that left, needed to go. Woke trash.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

I've never been so glad that I don't use Twitter. I'm willing to bet that Elon Musk is going to try to turn it into a right-wing echo chamber of hate with "free speech" as its excuse.

Avro my friend, you have a very distorted idea of "free speech" when it doesn't agree with you. Anyways, have a great weekend.

 

[emmzo]

Yeey, Trump's back! Noo, I got banned for badmouthing electric cars.

 

[Eflow]

This is huge. Now I can go back to posting things like "kill yourself you fat *****" and "the Holocaust isn't real" with impunity.

Today is a great day for free speech indeed.

 

[nnguy2]

I'm interested in free speech in Tweeter now. I hate censorship in all of its forms. Let's see what happens.

Just sent my first tweet "Elon Musk likes having sex with barn animals in the name of free speech."

 

[dirtyferret]

Just sent my first tweet "Elon Musk likes having sex with barn animals in the name of free speech."

That's disgusting, you should be ashamed for posting such filth!!! Even barn animals have standards for their sexual partners.

 

[Aranarth]

Lol "Chief Twit"

Twit is UK slang for dunce.

 

[RudyBob]

Good for him !!

 

[wiyosaya]

This is huge. Now I can go back to posting things like "kill yourself you fat *****" and "the Holocaust isn't real" with impunity.

Today is a great day for free speech indeed.

I highly doubt that. Musk's twitless will censor. Wait for it and count on it.

 

[wiyosaya]

This is great. Embrace the chaos! The schadenfreude of watching twitter getting taken over by a political opponent is strong enough to power most of europe.

It's gonna end in one of 2 ways. Either A) elon is gonna obliterate twitter with much hilarity along the way, or B) twitter is actually going to end up as a decent platform for information, and the twitter bubble will be force to reconcile with the fact their worldview is hilariously incorrect. Either way, we win!

IMO, Twitter, like is happening with Facebook, will vanish into inane obscurity never to be seen again.

 

[wiyosaya]

Avro my friend, you have a very distorted idea of "free speech" when it doesn't agree with you. Anyways, have a great weekend.

When hate and violence is all the right seems to have in their "bag of tricks" the comment @Avro Arrow made may just be prophetic.

 

[wiyosaya]

Those that left, needed to go. Woke trash.

Ah, a veiled hate comment? People can only live their lives if it meets the definition of how they should live their lives?


All hail the US Taliban!!

 

[Avro Arrow]

Avro my friend, you have a very distorted idea of "free speech" when it doesn't agree with you. Anyways, have a great weekend.

It's not really distorted, it's just not the American idea of it. The only things that I think should be censored are lies. As long as something is provably true, then it should never be censored.

Truth = Good
Lie = Bad
Alternative Facts = Don't actually exist and are the fabrications of liars

It's just that simple to me. Truth has no political leanings, but it is used more often by one side than the other. Just look at what happened to Alex Jones.