Elon Musk Completes $44 Billion Acquisition of Twitter

Elon Musk closed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, ending a saga that began with his surprise stake disclosure in April, continued through a bid to walk away from the deal over bot-account concerns, and ultimately concluded after Twitter sued to force him to honor the original agreement.

Musk immediately dismissed several top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, and took the company private, delisting it from the New York Stock Exchange. He described his goals for the platform as promoting free speech, reducing spam, and authenticating all real humans.

In his first weeks of ownership, Musk cut roughly half of Twitter's workforce, began charging for the previously free "Blue" verification checkmark, and signaled plans to rebuild the platform's trust and safety and content moderation approach, moves that triggered concern from advertisers and civil-society groups alike.