'This is just temporary': Elon Musk disrupts Twitter with bulk firing, dismisses board of directors
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: After finalizing a $44 billion deal with Twitter, Elon Musk has fired the microblogging platform's board of directors, giving himself unrestricted control over the social networking app. According to the documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Tesla owner has become the sole director of the social media giant.
Musk denied claims of mass layoffs at the company just a few days before. It has also been reported that Musk wants to avoid paying the stock grants to fired employees which resulted in the decision of the November 1 deadline, as per India Today. However, the new owner of Twitter replied to a user calling out his decision to dissolve Twitter's board, saying, "This is just temporary."
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Musk wasted no time in firing CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. There are rumors that the Twitter head will show the door to 75% of the staff, bringing the headcount to a total of 2,000 from 7,500.
While his true motives for the platform have been kept under the veil, Musk has expressed that he wishes to turn Twitter into a 'common digital town square' where a variety of views and opinions can co-exist and be debated upon.
"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 healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society," Musk stated in a tweet.
"I didn't do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility," he wrote as he wishes to not let Twitter turn into a "free-for-all hellscape."
According to The Sun, Musk also wants to make the blue tick feature a perk within Twitter's existing premium offering, Twitter Blue. While it usually costs $4.99, he is trying to push the price to $19.99. The SpaceX owner revealed that he trying to "revamp" the verification process amidst claims of him allowing controversially banned users back onto the platform.