Elon Musk closes deal to acquire Twitter, fires top execs: Source

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has closed a deal to acquire Twitter, ending a monthslong saga that cast Musk as suitor, critic, legal adversary and ultimately owner of the social media platform.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed the deal closure to ABC News on Friday morning. Some of Twitter’s top executives were fired, including CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and general counsel Sam Edgett, and the company will likely be launching an internal investigation, according to the source.

Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange confirmed on Friday morning that Twitter shares are now suspended for trading, which means the social media platform is headed for delisting and is no longer a public company.

On Thursday night, Musk tweeted: “The bird is freed.”

The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal were among the first outlets to report the news on Thursday evening, also citing sources familiar with the matter.

Musk — the richest person in the world, according to Forbes — reportedly acquired Twitter at his original offer price of $54.20 a share at a total cost of roughly $44 billion.

On Wednesday, Musk posted a video of himself walking into Twitter’s offices with a sink, with the tagline: “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”

After initially reaching an acquisition deal with Twitter in April, Musk moved to terminate the agreement in July, citing concerns over spam accounts on the platform.

Soon after, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk over his effort to nix the deal. The judge in the trial, set to take place in Delaware Chancery Court, gave Musk a deadline of Friday to reach a deal or proceed with the trial.

The deal completes a courtship that started in January when the billionaire first invested in Twitter.