Elon Musk has completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. He fired the CEO, CFO, and other top executives, and then reversed Trump’s lifetime ban. However, EU officials warned Musk will have to “fly by our rules.”
Elon Musk takes over Twitter
Elon Musk completed his tumultuous $44 billion purchase of Twitter on Thursday and took the struggling social network private late in the day, the New York Post reported.
A smiling Musk walked into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Thursday just ahead of the deal closing, carrying a kitchen sink, tweeting a photo with the caption “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”
Shortly after the purchase was completed, Musk tweeted, “The bird is freed,” and later said he made the purchase “to help humanity, whom I love.”
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said.
Reassurance to advertisers
“There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising,” Musk wrote in a post directed to Twitter’s advertisers. “Most of it has been wrong.”
In the lengthy message to advertisers, he assured them that the social media platform “cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.”
Musk already firing top executives, who leave with huge payouts
A number of Twitter executives were fired on Thursday following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company. According to reports by the New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and others, the firings included: chief executive officer Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, top legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett.
According to a source who spoke to Bloomberg, Musk will take over as interim CEO.
Golden parachutes
The executives didn’t walk away empty-handed. Agrawal left with $42 million. Gadde, who earned 17 million in 2021, was paid out $12.5 million. Segal received $25.4 million. Former CCO Personette got $11.2 million. Edgett’s compensation was unclear, the Daily Mail reported.
Musk reverses lifetime bans and welcomes back Trump
Musk is allegedly going to reverse the permanent lifetime bans, many of which occurred under the orders of Ex-CFO Segal, including the ban of former President Donald Trump back in February 2021. Musk has said that decision was wrong, and he intends to reverse it.
EU official warns Musk will have to “fly by our rules”
In the wake of the Twitter purchase by Elon Musk, the European Union is flexing its muscles and sending the social media platform’s new owner a warning, CNBC reported.
It came following a tweet by Musk stating: “The bird is freed.”
Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market, quote-tweeted Musk, saying “In Europe, the bird will fly by our rules.”
It was a warning that Musk will have to comply with the bloc’s new digital regulations, which will come into full force by 2024. The penalties are stiff, giving the EU the right to fine companies up to 6% of global annual revenues for violations.
The EU’s recently approved Digital Services Act requires that large tech companies have robust content moderation systems to ensure they can quickly take down illegal material such as hate speech.
