Elon Musk has dramatically fired senior executives at Twitter just moments after completing his purchase of the company.
The tech billionaire and SpaceX founder became the owner of the social media platform early on Friday in a reported $44 billion (£37.9 billion) takeover, following months of drawn-out negotiations and legal wrangles.
Musk, the world's richest man, had previously accused senior figures within the company of misleading him and investors over the number of fake accounts operating on the social media platform.
He had even been sued by Twitter when he threatened to pull out of the deal over the number of 'bots', before making a surprise U-turn to give it the go-ahead earlier this month.
And after capturing Twitter Inc on Friday, Musk reportedly terminated the contracts Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to Reuters sources.
Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter's San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, sources added.
Twitter, Musk and the executives have not yet commented on the reports.
In a tweet posted shortly after the acquisition, Musk wrote: "The bird is freed"
On Wednesday, the billionaire engaged in a bizarre stunt at Twitter's headquarters on Wednesday when he entered carrying a porcelain sink before tweeting: "let that sink in."
He has also changed his description in his Twitter profile to "Chief Twit", and described his decision to buy Twitter as one inspired by a wish to "help humanity"
In a statement uploaded to Twitter aimed at the platform's advertisers, Musk said he was acquiring the platform because he believed it was important to have a space where "a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner".
He said there was currently a "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".
