Tesla CEO Elon Musk has officially bought Twitter. The billionaire entrepreneur originally announced his intentions to buy Twitter back in April, however a turbulent six months followed in which he threatened to pull out of the deal on numerous occasions. However, Musk finally completed his $44 billion acquisition of the company earlier this week.
On Wednesday as the deal neared, Musk posted a video of himself carrying a kitchen sink into Twitter's San Fransisco HQ. He also Tweeted that the "bird is freed" and "comedy is now legal on Twitter".
Musk has already made some serious changes at Twitter, firing CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. The latter was reportedly responsible for banning former US President Donald Trump from the platform. Back in May, Musk insisted he would reverse Trump's Twitter ban. However, Trump previously stated he would not be returning to Twitter and would instead remain on his own app Truth Social.
Furthermore, Musk revealed a "content moderation council" will be formed and no major account reinstatements or content decisions will take place before then. In a deleted Tweet, the Tesla CEO also spoke about plans to offer a verification badge to members of Twitter Blue, the app's premium subscription model.
Per a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Twitter will officially be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on November 8. Musk's subsidiary company, X Holdings I, Inc., will then own 100% of Twitter stock.
Musk's Twitter purchase is seemingly the first stage of his plan to build a "super app" that covers everything from ride-hailing to shopping and bank transfers. The "super app" has drawn comparisons from some to China's WeChat which also has a combination of social networking and e-commerce features.
