New Twitter boss Elon Musk tweets 'let the good times roll'
After completing his acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion, the world’s richest person Elon Musk on Friday (October 28) tweeted, “Let the good times roll”.
He started off as the social media giant’s new owner by firing its top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal.
Also read: Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover: Govt expects platforms to comply with local rules
“The bird is freed,” Musk tweeted on Friday after completing the takeover of Twitter and firing the social media giant’s four top executives, including Agrawal, legal executive Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
🎶 let the good times roll 🎶
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
“Spoiler Alert. Let the good times roll,” Musk, 51, tweeted early Friday morning after ending Thursday night with his acquisition of Twitter.
Musk, a self-styled “free speech absolutist”, has been critical of Twitter’s management and its moderation policies.
“At least one of the executives who was fired was escorted out of Twitter’s office, a report in the New York Times reported.
Also read: Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover: Twitterati in India divided
The deal’s closing removes a cloud of uncertainty that has hung over Twitter’s business, employees and shareholders for much of the year, CNN commented.
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
After initially agreeing to buy the company in April, Musk spent months attempting to get out of the deal, first citing concerns about the number of bots on the platform and later allegations raised by a company whistleblower.
Agrawal, 38, was appointed Twitter CEO in November last year after the social media sites co-founder Jack Dorsey had stepped down.
An IIT Bombay and Stanford alumnus, Agrawal had joined Twitter over a decade ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees at the company.
Agrawal, who was appointed Twitter’s chief executive last year, had clashed with Musk publicly and privately in recent months about the takeover, the NYT report said.
Musk also singled out Gadde, 48, criticising her for her role in content moderation decisions at the company, it added.
As the Twitter account of former US President Donald Trump was permanently suspended in January last year, Hyderabad-born Gadde was at the forefront of this dramatic decision undertaken within days of the attempted insurrection by pro-Trump supporters at the US Capitol.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thanked Agrawal, Segal and Gadde for their “massive contribution” to the business.
“Thank you to @paraga, @vijaya , and @nedsegal for the collective contribution to Twitter. Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each!” Stone tweeted.
Thank you to @paraga, @vijaya, and @nedsegal for the collective contribution to Twitter. Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each!
— Biz Stone (@biz) October 28, 2022
Musk arrived at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday and had been meeting with engineers and advertising executives.
Musk also updated his Twitter description to Chief Twit. He arrived at Twitter’s office carrying a sink and tweeted the video with the caption “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022
He has promised to transform Twitter by loosening the services content moderation rules, making its algorithm more transparent, and nurturing subscription businesses, as well as laying off employees.
In April, Twitter accepted Musk’s proposal to buy the social media service and take it private.
However, Musk soon began sowing doubt about his intentions to follow through with the agreement, alleging that the company failed to adequately disclose the number of spam and fake accounts on the service.
When Musk said he was terminating the deal, Twitter sued the billionaire, alleging he refuses to honour his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.
