After months of a saga with twists and turns, the multi-billionaire took control of Twitter on Thursday. He immediately fired company boss Parag Agrawal, reports the ‘Washington Post’
It’s done: Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, took control of Twitter on Thursday (Friday night, French time) after concluding the acquisition of the social network for 44 billion dollars.
And as Twitter’s first act of ownership, the world’s richest man immediately fired boss Parag Agrawal and two other executives: chief financial officer Ned Segal and chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, reports the washington post.
Towards a return of Trump
Thursday, Elon Musk tried to reassure advertisers by saying that he wanted to allow all opinions to be expressed on the social network, without making it an “infernal” platform where everything would be allowed.
It is “important for the future of civilization to have an online public square where a wide variety of opinions can debate in a healthy way, without resorting to violence”, he wrote in a message specifically addressed to brands, which bring in the bulk of Twitter’s revenue.
Presenting himself as a staunch defender of freedom of expression, the entrepreneur has already indicated that he intends to relax the moderation of content, rekindling concerns about a possible resurgence of abuse and misinformation on the platform.
He, for example, opened the door to a return of Donald Trump, ousted from Twitter shortly after the assault on the Capitol in January 2021. What put off advertisers, who generally prefer to back their ads with consensual content.
More layoffs soon?
According to an article from washington post last week, the businessman told investors that he ultimately intended to lay off almost 75% of Twitter’s 7,500 employees.
“It screwed up a lot of people,” notes an employee, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
He calculated, according to internal figures, that more than 700 employees had already left the Californian group since June. “These are rather voluntary departures, either for ethical reasons or for basely financial reasons, because an unlisted company is less interesting,” he believes.