Elon Musk tweets 'the bird is freed' with $44 bn Twitter takeover complete

Elon Musk tweeted "the bird is freed" late Thursday after taking control of Twitter in a deal that puts him at the helm of one of the leading platforms for global discourse.

Musk completed the $44 billion takeover on the eve of a court-appointed deadline to seal his on-again, off-again deal to purchase the social media network, whose logo is a bird.

Musk sacked chief executive Parag Agrawal, as well as the company's chief financial officer and its head of safety, the Washington Post and CNBC reported citing unnamed sources.

Agrawal went to court to hold the Tesla chief to the terms of a takeover deal he had tried to escape.

The reports came hours before the court-appointed deadline for Musk to seal his on-again, off-again deal to purchase the social media network.

Musk tweeted earlier in the day that he was buying Twitter "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."

The New York Stock Exchange meanwhile posted a pending order to suspend trading in Twitter before Friday's session.

Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the departure of its top executives, but the platform's co-founder Biz Stone thanked the three men in a tweet for their "collective contribution to Twitter."

"Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each."

- 'Chief Twit' -

The closure of the deal marks the culmination of a long and drawn out back-and-forth between the billionaire and the social network.

Musk tried to step back from the Twitter deal soon after his unsolicited offer was accepted in April, and said in July he was canceling the contract because he was misled by Twitter over the number of fake "bot" accounts -- allegations rejected by the company.

Twitter, in turn, sought to prove Musk was contriving excuses to walk away simply because he changed his mind.

After Musk sought to terminate the sale, Twitter filed a lawsuit to hold Musk to the agreement.

With a trial looming, the unpredictable billionaire capitulated and revived his takeover plan.

Musk signaled the deal was on track this week by changing his Twitter profile to "Chief Twit" and posting a video of himself walking into the company's California headquarters carrying a sink.

"Let that sink in!" he quipped.

He even shared a picture of himself socializing at a coffee bar at Twitter headquarters earlier in the day on Thursday.

Musk said during a recent Tesla earnings call that he was "excited" about the Twitter deal even though he and investors are "overpaying."