Elon Musk acquires Twitter for $44 billion six months after initial announcement

Last week, 1997 College and Wharton graduate Elon Musk officially closed his deal to buy Twitter Inc. for $44 billion.

Musk first offered to buy the social media company in late April, after becoming the largest shareholder in the company earlier that month. He indicated that he might back out of the deal the next month, claiming he wanted more information about how many of the accounts on the platform were fake or spam.

He announced his decision to back out of the deal in July — in a letter to the company, he claimed it had "false and misleading representations" about how many fake accounts were on the platform.

Twitter’s board of directors filed a lawsuit against Musk to forcefully complete the purchase and Twitter's stock price dropped dramatically. 

"Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests," Twitter’s legal team alleged in the lawsuit.

Musk counter-sued, alleging that Twitter's disclosures to the SEC contained "material misrepresentations or omissions that distort Twitter’s value and caused the Musk Parties to agree to acquire the company at an inflated price."

A trial was scheduled for Oct. 17, but Musk offered to go through with his original terms in early October, postponing the trial to Oct. 28 to allow time for both sides to come to an agreement. Twitter ultimately agreed, making Musk the official owner of the platform. 

Musk began his tenure in the company with significant changes. He dismissed Twitter's board, and his team is rumored to be deciding on the first round of layoffs, which will target roughly a quarter of the staff according to The Washington Post.

Musk's title in the Twitter directory, according to the Post, is CEO, and he refers to himself as "Chief Twit" in his Twitter biography.