Elon Musk Completes Tumultuous $44 Billion Twitter Takeover
Elon Musk officially acquires Twitter for $44 billion after a chaotic months-long saga filled with legal battles and sudden reversals. The Tesla CEO immediately fires top executives and lays off half the staff upon taking control.
Elon Musk officially completes his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, finalizing the deal at his original offer price of $54.20 per share. This massive purchase marks the end of a chaotic months-long saga that begins in January when Musk starts investing in the social media company. He reaches an initial agreement in April but quickly shifts roles from eager suitor to vocal critic and legal adversary.
The acquisition process faces significant turbulence as Musk repeatedly expresses concerns over the number of spam and bot accounts on the platform. He temporarily pauses the deal in May, leading some financial analysts to speculate that he uses the bot issue as a pretext to back out amid a severe downturn in tech stocks. Twitter firmly denies Musk's claims and insists it shares all necessary information according to the terms of the acquisition agreement.
Following the late October takeover, Musk acts quickly to reshape the company by firing top executives and laying off approximately half of the workforce. He also establishes a new content moderation council to handle account reinstatements and revamps the platform's subscription service. These dramatic changes signal a bold new era for the social media giant under its new owner.