Topline Elon Musk will reportedly beef up his resume and take over as Twitter’s CEO, according to Bloomberg, following his decision to remove several top executives after completing his acquisition of the social media company late on Thursday.
Key Facts
- According to Bloomberg, Musk will take over from Parag Agrawal, who was reportedly fired on Thursday along with other top executives.
- Musk, who also serves as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is yet to make an official statement about his takeover but appeared to acknowledge completion of the deal by tweeting “the bird is freed.”
- A day earlier, the billionaire updated his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit.”
- Musk, the world’s richest person, will likely stay in the role in the short term before finding a full time replacement for Agrawal, the Bloomberg report added.
- As he has previously implied, Musk also reportedly plans to undo any permanent account bans, potentially opening the door for former President Donald Trump’s return to the platform.
- At the time of publishing, Trump’s @realDonaldTrump account remains suspended
Crucial Quote
Reacting to the report that Musk may loosen some of Twitter’s restrictions and unban some accounts, former U.S. intelligence contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden tweeted: “This is going to cause controversy, but platform censorship had clearly gone too far. Content moderation should be an individual decision, not a corporate prison. Let people make their own choices—and not just on Twitter.”
Key Background
Late on Thursday, reports suggested that Musk had completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter after months of drama, flip-flops and the threat of a legal battle. Immediately after taking over, Musk removed several top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Legal And Policy Head Vijaya Gadde and General Counsel Sean Edgett. According to the Washington Post, the fired executives were “hastily escorted out of the company’s San Francisco headquarters.” Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his push to turn it into a “free speech” haven has raised concerns about the return of unmoderated hate speech on the platform. Musk tried to assuage some of these concerns raised by advertisers in a statement issued on Twitter, in which he said he won’t allow the platform to become a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.” The billionaire also claimed he was not trying to make more money with the Twitter acquisition but instead is trying to “help humanity” by creating a “common digital town square” for open dialogue.
Tangent
Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp—the blank check company that has agreed to acquire former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social and take it public—slumped by nearly 4% on Thursday as Musk’s acquisition of Twitter became increasingly clear. Since the start of this year, DWAC has seen its valuation crater by nearly 70% as Truth Social has failed to gain traction and has been beset by controversies and investigations. Trump has vowed to remain on Truth Social, even if he’s invited back on Twitter. However, the allure of having a much wider reach on a larger platform may be difficult to put off once he begins his widely expected 2024 presidential campaign.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Musk’s current net worth to be $221.5 billion, making him the richest person in the world.
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