Mr Musk tweeted "the bird is freed" and later said "let the good times roll". A number of top executives, including the boss, Parag Agrawal, have reportedly been fired. Mr Agrawal and two other executives were escorted out of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters on Thursday evening, said Reuters. The completion of the deal brings to an end months of legal wrangling but it has prompted questions over the platform's future direction.
A filing was made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, confirming the takeover. The New York Stock Exchange said on Friday that trading in Twitter's shares had been suspended, giving the reason as "merger effective".
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone appeared to confirm the executives' departure. In a tweet, he thanked all three for their "collective contribution to Twitter", calling them "massive talents" and "beautiful humans".
Mr Musk, a self-styled "free speech absolutist", has been critical of Twitter's management and its moderation policies.
They clashed over the terms of the takeover, with Mr Musk accusing Twitter of providing misleading information about the firm's user numbers.
He has also said he would reverse bans on suspended users, which could include former US President Donald Trump, who was excluded following the Capitol riot in January 2021.
At the time, Twitter said there was a risk Mr Trump would incite further violence. But Mr Musk has described the ban as "foolish".
Earlier this week, Mr Musk said that he doesn't want the platform to become an echo chamber for hate and division. "Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hell-scape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" he tweeted.
The takeover has prompted discussion among Twitter users over what the platform will look like under Mr Musk's ownership.
In response to Mr Musk's missive, Thierry Breton the EU commissioner for the internal market tweeted "In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules" suggesting regulators will take a tough stance against any relaxation of Twitter's policies.
Mr Musk as well as being the world's richest person with $250bn to his name, is a controversial figure.
He made his fortune through the electric car company Tesla, and space exploration firm Space X. But he has drawn additional attention by his outspoken intervention in unrelated matters, often using Twitter as the platform, ranging from geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine to the Until recently it appeared the deal could still fall through.
After building a stake in Twitter at the start of the year, Mr Musk made his $44bn offer in April, a price tag that looked too high almost as soon as it was agreed.
He said he was buying it because he wanted "civilisation to have a common digital town square" and said he planned to clean up spam accounts and preserve the platform as a venue for free speech.
But by the summer he had changed his mind about the purchase, citing concerns that the number of fake accounts on the platform was higher than Twitter claimed. There has been no comment yet from Twitter about its new management team. But whoever becomes its next chief executive, it is clear that Mr Musk will ultimately be in charge of the company - a role he will have to balance with his management positions at both Tesla and SpaceX.
rescue of the schoolboys trapped in a Thai cave.
Until recently it appeared the deal could still fall through.
After building a stake in Twitter at the start of the year, Mr Musk made his $44bn offer in April, a price tag that looked too high almost as soon as it was agreed.
He said he was buying it because he wanted "civilisation to have a common digital town square" and said he planned to clean up spam accounts and preserve the platform as a venue for free speech.
But by the summer he had changed his mind about the purchase, citing concerns that the number of fake accounts on the platform was higher than Twitter claimed. There has been no comment yet from Twitter about its new management team. But whoever becomes its next chief executive, it is clear that Mr Musk will ultimately be in charge of the company - a role he will have to balance with his management positions at both Tesla and SpaceX.
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