Elon Musk completes Twitter purchase, fires CEO and other top execs

Musk himself is expected to assume the role of interim CEO, though in the longer term may appoint someone else

Twitter Inc. is now owned by Elon Musk, with multiple media outlets reporting Thursday night that the long-anticipated sale had officially closed.

The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and others reported, based on unnamed sources, that the top executives of Twitter were fired and escorted from the building, including Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust and safety.

Musk himself is expected to assume the role of interim CEO, though in the longer term may appoint someone else, Bloomberg reported early Friday, citing unnamed sources. Twitter did not respond to a request by the publication for comment.

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The acquisition ends months of legal wrangling after Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX and a frequent Twitter user, offered to buy Twitter in April. After reaching an agreement with Twitter’s board to buy the social media company for $44 billion, Musk tried to back out of the deal and Twitter sued him. He faced a Friday deadline to complete the deal or face trial.

In a tweet late Thursday night, Musk said only: “the bird is freed.”

Read more: Market Watch