Elon Musk completes $44 billion Twitter takeover

Elon Musk has completed his $44bn (£38.1bn) takeover of Twitter.

Musk tweeted “the bird is freed” in a nod to the deal being completed.

the bird is freed

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

The Tesla and SpaceX founder was given a deadline of 28 October to close the deal to avoid going to trial, after the social media company sued him for trying to cancel his original offer made back in April.

Musk has promised to cut jobs and costs at Twitter, while boosting product innovation in an attempt to build a “super app” that incorporates payments, commerce and messaging.

As the billionaire entrepreneur took over Thursday night, he reportedly fired Twitter’s chief executive, Parag Agrawal, and chief financial officer Ned Segal. Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of legal, policy and safety, and general counsel Sean Edgett were also dismissed.