Elon Musk has completed the US$44 billion acquisition of Twitter, after months-long skirmishes with the company where the billionaire tried to backtrack on the deal arguing that he had been misled about the amount of spam on the platform.
Kicking things off, Musk has fired a number of top executives, which includes the CEO, Parag Agrawal chief financial officer Ned Segal, and the firm's top legal and policy executive, Vijaya Gadde.
Musk has said he believes it is “important to the future of civilisation” to have a space where “a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner”.
Agrawal and Segal were escorted out of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters after the deal closed, Reuters reported.
At Twitter headquarters’ coffee bar, @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/vy5Cw7zttf— Walter Isaacson (@WalterIsaacson) October 27, 2022
Important to the future of civilisation
In his statement posted on Twitter Musk said: “I want to reach out personally to share my motivation acquiring Twitter.
“There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising.
“Most of it has been wrong
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner without resorting to violence.
“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter for right wing and for left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.
"In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarised extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.”
What happened?
In April this year, Musk attained the position of the largest stakeholder of Twitter, and by months-end, a deal was reached to buy the company for US$44 Billion.
However, by mid-May, Musk backtracked on the deal citing concerns that the number of fake accounts on the platform was higher than Twitter claimed.
In July he said he no longer wished to acquire the company. However, Twitter asserted his legally binding commitment and eventually filed a lawsuit to make Musk accountable for the deal.
Early this month, Musk resumed his takeover plans for the company on condition that legal proceedings were paused.