Elon Musk completes $44bn Twitter takeover

The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has completed his $44bn (£38.1bn) takeover of Twitter, according to US media and an investor in the firm. He tweeted "the bird is freed", in an apparent reference to the deal closing. A number of top executives, including the boss, Parag Agrawal, have reportedly been fired. It brings to a close a saga that saw Twitter go to court to hold the multi-billionaire to the terms of a takeover deal that he had tried to escape. Twitter has not yet confirmed the takeover, but an early investor in the company told the BBC that the deal had been completed. Mr Musk, a self-styled "free speech absolutist", has been critical of Twitter's moderation policies and the news will be greeted with mixed feelings by Twitter users and employees.

The social media platform's shares will be suspended from trading on Friday, according to the New York Stock Exchange’s website.

Mr Musk said he bought the social media platform to help humanity and he wanted "civilisation to have a common digital town square". Earlier this week, Mr Musk tweeted a video of himself walking into Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco carrying a kitchen sink with the caption: "let that sink in!" He also changed his Twitter profile to read "Chief Twit".

On a recent earnings call, the Tesla founder said Twitter was "an asset that has just sort of languished for a long time, but has incredible potential, although obviously myself and the other investors are overpaying for Twitter right now". ( Source BBC)