Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, May 30, 2026

Elon Musk takes control of Twitter in $44bn deal

Elon Musk takes control of Twitter in $44bn deal

The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has completed his $44bn (£38.1bn) takeover of Twitter, according to a filing with the US government.
Musk tweeted "the bird is freed" and later said, "let the good times roll".

A number of top executives, including the boss, Parag Agrawal, have reportedly been fired.

Agrawal and two other executives were escorted out of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters on Thursday evening, according to Reuters.

The completion of the deal brings to an end months of legal wrangling but it has prompted questions over the platform's future direction.

A filing was made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, confirming the takeover.

The New York Stock Exchange said on Friday that trading in Twitter's shares had been suspended, giving the reason as "merger effective".

Chief financial officer Ned Segal, and the firm's top legal and policy executive, Vijaya Gadde, are leaving alongside Agrawal, according to US media reports.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone appeared to confirm the executives' departure. In a tweet, he thanked all three for their "collective contribution to Twitter", calling them "massive talents" and "beautiful humans".

Meanwhile, Bret Taylor — who had served as Twitter's chairman since last November — updated his LinkedIn profile to indicate that he was no longer in the post.

Musk, a self-styled "free speech absolutist", has been critical of Twitter's management and its moderation policies.

They clashed over the terms of the takeover, with Musk accusing Twitter of providing misleading information about the firm's user numbers.

He has also said he would reverse bans on suspended users, which could include former US President Donald Trump, who was excluded following the Capitol riot in January 2021.

At the time, Twitter said there was a risk Trump would incite further violence. But Musk has described the ban as "foolish".

Earlier this week, Musk said that he doesn't want the platform to become an echo chamber for hate and division. "Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hell-scape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" he tweeted.

The takeover has prompted discussion among Twitter users over what the platform will look like under Musk's ownership.

There are fears that more lenient free speech policies would mean people banned for hate speech or disinformation may be invited back to the platform. As well as Trump, that could include political extremists, QAnon loyalists and 1Covid1-19 deniers.

In response to Musk's missive, Thierry Breton the EU commissioner for the internal market tweeted "In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules" suggesting regulators will take a tough stance against any relaxation of Twitter's policies.

Musk as well as being the world's richest person with $250bn to his name, is a controversial figure.

He made his fortune through the electric car company Tesla, and space exploration firm Space X. But he has drawn additional attention by his outspoken intervention in unrelated matters, often using Twitter as the platform, ranging from geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine to the rescue of the schoolboys trapped in a Thai cave.

It is not clear yet whether the clear out of senior management is the forerunner to company-wide job cuts. Earlier reports suggested 75% of staff at the social media company were set to lose their jobs but those reports were "inaccurate", according to Ross Gerber, a shareholder in both Twitter and Musk's other company Tesla.

"There are a lot of talented people at Twitter, especially on the engineering side and they want to retain as much of that talent as possible," Gerber told the BBC.

But he said the job losses could nevertheless extend far beyond upper management. Musk might look to cut product managers and end projects "that aren't going anywhere," he said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
United Nations Secretary-General Warns Global Order Facing Highest Level of Conflict Since 1945
Israel Issues Sweeping Evacuation Orders in Southern Lebanon Amid Intensified Hezbollah Conflict
Russia Announces Systemic Military Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Defense and Energy Infrastructure
United States and Iranian Negotiators Reach Draft Agreement to Extend Ceasefire and Resume Nuclear Talks
United Nations Security Council Deeply Divided Over United States Capture of Venezuelan President
US and Iran Exchange Direct Military Strikes Amid Fragile Gulf Ceasefire
World Health Organization Warns of Catastrophic Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo
Russia Threatens New Wave of Strikes on Ukrainian Infrastructure and Embassies
Scientists Warn Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse Faster Than Projected
Anthropic Reaches $900 Billion Valuation in Historic AI Funding Round
Washington Imposes Crippling Sanctions on Iranian Maritime Authority
Japan and the Philippines Initiate Strategic Intelligence-Sharing Pact
Microsoft Deploys Autonomous Computer-Using AI Agents to Global Markets
Anthropic Secures $45 Billion Compute Infrastructure Agreement With SpaceX
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Resigns Amid Administration Shakeup
Micron Technology Crosses Trillion-Dollar Valuation Amid Unprecedented Hardware Demand
Canada and Germany Finalize Historic Long-Term LNG Export Agreement
China Expands International Travel Restrictions on Domestic AI Researchers
Japan Approves Sweeping Overhaul of National Intelligence Apparatus
Global Airlines Scramble Logistics as Middle East Airspace Remains Fractured
Japan's Naphtha Imports Plunge 47 Percent Amid Strait of Hormuz Closure
Global Crude Prices Retreat Below $96 as Gulf Tensions Momentarily Ease
Generative AI Outperforms Human Baselines in Landmark Global Creativity Study
NASA Partners With Private Aerospace to Unveil Permanent Lunar Base Architecture
South Korean Equity Markets Surge on Next-Generation Memory Chip Frenzy
×