Elon Musk Expected to Serve as Temporary Twitter CEO

Elon Musk bought Twitter, and now he is expected to serve as temporary CEO of the company. A new report points to the latest SEC filing from this week, which reveals that Musk secured $7.14 billion in financing form investors and/or friends he handpicked, including Oracle, Larry Ellison, and others. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is reportedly also talking with Musk about possibly contributing some of his shares.

 The $44 billion takeover of Twitter is still ongoing, and Musk is reportedly expected to serve as temp CEO for a few months afterward. Additional reports 

Twitter’s employees and the rest of the world are all waiting (somewhat anxiously) to see how Elon Musk will transform Twitter. 

“Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go,” Twitter’s recently-appointed CEO Parag Agrawal reportedly said when asked about possible changes to the platform – like letting Donald Trump back on it. 

“I think we feel very comfortable that (the deal) gives this team the ability to continue to make the company successful in between signing and closing the transaction,” added the chair of Twitter’s board of directors, Bret Taylor.

Musk’s entire enthusiasm for buying Twitter was seemingly born out of his frustration with how the social media platform was being run – especially when it comes to ideas of free speech:

“By ‘free speech,’ I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law,” said Musk in a statement. “If people want less free speech, they will ask the government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”

The last few years of socio-political turmoil left Twitter in the crosshairs. There were years of backlash to political figures like President Donald Trump using Twitter to affect policy and public perception; disinformation became a major concern during the 2020 pandemic and Presidential Election; and since the election (and all its fallout), Twitter has been slammed from all directions. 

Twitter was lambasted for censoring certain political or health-related stories that were initially doubted, but ultimately proven credible. Aside from all those recent troubles, Twitter has long been a lightning rod for helping foster everything from online bullying and flash mobs, to cancel culture and political extremism. To call it a hot potato would be an understatment.