Elon Musk Owns Twitter Now & Here's What To Expect With The Meme Lord In Charge
Have you let it "sink in" yet?
Elon Musk completed his deal to take over Twitter for $44 billion this week, and he celebrated in his typical way by using a sink to make a dad joke at the company's HQ.
Then he fired people.
Musk's takeover comes after months of back-and-forth and public feuding with the company's executives, whom he's frequently blasted for one reason or another.
Now most of these people are gone and Musk is at the helm, with the power to reshape his beloved social media platform however he wants.
Here's what you can expect from him in the near future.
Did Elon Musk buy Twitter?
Yes. Yes he did.
Musk closed the deal to buy Twitter on Thursday night for roughly $44 billion, the New York Times reports. He initially made that offer back in April and then suggested he might pull out in July, only to reverse course again and seal the deal this fall.
Why did Elon Musk bring a sink to Twitter HQ?
If you've followed Musk for any length of time on Twitter, you know that he loves a bad pun.
He celebrated his imminent Twitter takeover by visiting the company's California HQ on Wednesday, and he took a moment to shoot a joke video as he walked in.
The video shows Musk carrying a bathroom sink as he enters the building.
"Let that sink in!" his caption reads.
Get it? GET IT?
Is Elon Musk firing staff at Twitter?
Musk basically cleared house on his first day at Twitter, firing CEO Parag Agrawal and two other top execs, CNN reports. He and Agarwal didn't see eye to eye while Musk was trying to buy the company, so the firing comes as no surprise.
It's also not the worst thing that could happen to those guys, because they're due a combined $88 million in severance pay, Business Insider reports.
The Washington Post has reported that Musk plans to fire 75% of Twitter staff, but he denied that while visiting with his new employees on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports.
Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter?
Musk loves using Twitter but according to his public statements, buying the platform is all about promoting free speech. He also sees it as a way to contribute to humanity's progress, according to a public letter he issued to advertisers.
"The reason I acquired Twitter is 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 in a health manner, without resorting to violence," he wrote in that letter on Thursday.
He added that he wants to avoid the "great danger" of social media splintering into "far right wing and far left wing echo chambers."
"I didn't (buy Twitter) because it would be easy. I didn't do it to make more money," he wrote. "I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love."
How will Elon Musk change Twitter?
Musk has tweeted a lot about what he'd like to do with Twitter, although it can be hard to separate the promises from the trolling tweets.
Generally speaking though, he's said that he wants to encourage free speech. That seems to mean that he'll loosen up some of the platform's restrictions and revoke some of its banned figures in the name of free speech.
"The bird is freed," he tweeted after the takeover was complete. "Let the good times roll."
However, he also hinted at some sort of standards in his letter to advertisers.
"Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" he wrote.
Musk has also frequently promised to tackle the problem of spam bots on the platform.
Will Elon Musk let Donald Trump return to Twitter?
Former U.S. President Donald Trump was permanently booted off most social media platforms, including Twitter, after he encouraged violence during his supporters' attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
However, Musk said back in May that he would "reverse the permanent ban" after taking over the platform.
Will he actually do it? We'll have to wait and see, as he hasn't said anything lately.