The Tesla and SpaceX boss officially acquired Twitter for $ 44 billion on Thursday. His first action was to lay off the management of the social network. He also tried to reassure advertisers about freedom of expression.
“The bird is released”. And of this tweet that Elon Musk formalized the Twitter acquisition on Thursday. After months of a saga with multiple twists, the billionaire has just taken control of the social network on the eve of the deadline to finalize the operation. Having announced at the beginning of October that he wanted to buy back the platform, while from July he was trying to exit the acquisition offer, the entrepreneur had until October 28 to find an agreement with Twitter, failing which they would have faced each other in a trial to November.
A possible wave of layoffs
As soon as he arrived at the helm of the social network, the Tesla and SpaceX boss fired the management of the social network. According to several US media outlets, CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Chief Legal and Policy Officer Vijaya Gadde have been fired.
It’s also possible that Elon Musk doesn’t stop there with the layoffs. Last week, the Washington Post revealed that it plans to lay off nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s 7.5,000 employees. However, according to Bloomberg, the billionaire does not intend to lay off so many staff members. This is what he told employees during a visit to the Twitter headquarters on Wednesday, the day he was filmed with a sink in his hand as he walked into the company premises.
A ransom to “try to help humanity”
Elon Musk also tried to reassure advertisers, who are responsible for most of the platform’s revenue, through a message. A strong advocate of free speech, he has in the past signaled his intention to ease content moderation on the platform, lift permanent bans and allow Donald Trump to return. Such changes could scare advertisers.
Thus, the entrepreneur has made it clear that he wants all opinions to be expressed on Twitter, but he doesn’t want everything to be allowed there. “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”Elon Musk said in his message to advertisers. “That said, Twitter obviously can’t be a hellish place open to everyone, where you can say anything without consequences”He added.
The Tesla boss further stated this “Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world”, deeming it essential to show users advertisements that correspond as closely as possible to their needs. He assured that he bought the social network for “trying to help humanity” en “make money”.
