Elon Musk plans to become Twitter's chief executive officer and reverse lifetime bans on users

Elon Musk took control of Twitter and fired its top executives, US media reported late Thursday, in a deal that puts one of the top platforms for global discourse in the hands of the world's richest man. Elon Musk-Twitter deal was finally completed and as part of the agreement, the world's richest man will pay $54.20 per share to common shareholders and will consequently operate the social media giant as a private entity henceforth.

Musk tweeted on Thursday that he was buying Twitter "because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated healthily." The billionaire even shared a picture of himself socializing at a coffee bar at Twitter headquarters. And the New York Stock Exchange posted a pending order to suspend trading on Twitter before Friday's session.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Twitter will have to shell out more than $1 billion for annual interest payments post-takeover, as against $51 million in 2021.

Elon Musk reportedly cleaned house on Thursday, firing CFO Ned Segal, Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust Vijaya Gadde, and General Counsel Sean Edgett right out of the gate. Though it's still an aggressive and abrupt day-one move, Agrawal was inevitable given his well-documented clashes and a failed virtual meeting with Musk.

It's also no surprise that Gadde was among the first to go, despite being a well-respected figure in the company. Elon Musk previously singled the top executive out with accusations of "left wing bias" over her role in policy decision making at Twitter,  driving a wave of racist hate and harassment her way.