Elon Musk secures control of Twitter for $44bn, fires management

After months of high drama including threats of a legal battle, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has finally completed his much publicised takeover of social media firm Twitter. Declaring that the “bird is freed” he immediately made his mark by sacking senior management including CEO Parag Agrawal.

Elon Musk

Another prominent departure was legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, who was responsible for banning former US President Donald Trump from the platform after the Capitol Building attacks in 2021.

Mr Musk, who positions himself as a “free speech absolutist” said he wants Twitter to be the equivalent of a “digital town square” for the world, open to discussion and opinion from all parts of the political spectrum. There is a general expectation that he will allow Trump back onto the platform, having called the ban “foolish”.

One of Musk’s first acts was to fire out a message to advertisers: “I very much believe that advertising, when done right, can delight, entertain and inform. For this to be true, it is essential to show Twitter users advertising that is as relevant as possible to their needs. Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content. Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world.”