The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, according to US media and an investor in the firm. He tweeted "the bird is released," in an apparent reference to the deal closing. A number of senior executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, have reportedly been sacked.
The acquisition caps a saga that saw Twitter go to court to hold the billionaire to the terms of a buyout deal he had tried to escape. Twitter has not yet confirmed the acquisition, but an early investor in the company told the BBC that the deal had been completed.
The company's chief executive, Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and the firm's top legal and policy officer, Vijaya Gadde, are no longer with the company, according to US media reports. Agrawal and Segal were escorted out of Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco after the deal closed, Reuters news agency reported. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thanked Agrawal, Segal and Ms. Gadde for their "collective contribution" to the business.
Shares of the social media platform will be suspended from trading on Friday, according to the New York Stock Exchange's website. Musk said he bought the social media platform to help humanity and wanted "civilization to have a common digital town square."