'The Bird is Freed': Elon Musk Now Owns Twitter (TWTR); Fires CEO and CFO

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SpaceX, is now in charge of Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), according to multiple reports. His Twitter bio now reads “Chief Twit.”

At 11:49 PM EST on Thursday, Musk tweeted “the bird is freed,” suggesting he now owns the social media company. CNBC reported that Musk immediately fired CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal, as well as Twitter’s head of legal, Vijaya Gadde.

A Delaware Court judge told two parties that they must complete the buyout by October 28 or head to trial in November. On Thursday, Musk entered Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco and sent a message to advertisers.

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said in the message.

“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far-right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”

Twitter shares closed at $53.70 on Thursday before rising to $53.86 in after-hours trading.

By Senad Karaahmetovic

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