Free bird

There is a huge cry around the world but the opinion is divided, after the new owner of the top social media tool Twitter Elon Musk, on the first day of his rule, removed top officials of the company (“Musk takes over Twitter ‘to help humanity,’ fires CEO Parag Agarwal,” Oct.29, Gulf Today website).

According to the report, there was just one question hovering over the minds of Twitterati where the moves of Elon Musk, the eccentric billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX, on Twitter were concerned: will he, won’t he? For months he kept the company’s staff — and the media — guessing over his acquisition of the social media giant. Thursday turned out to be D-Day: the ‘Chief Twit’ finalised the $44-billion takeover.

“The bird is freed,” he proclaimed with a flourish, in an apparent reference to the bird logo. But his move has the 7,500-strong staff of the social media giant caged in utter apprehension about their future, though he has tried to calm their fears over the sackings. He also said he did not buy Twitter to make more money but “to try to help humanity, whom I love.”

Elon Musk is one of the richest people in the world. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI; president of Musk Foundation; and owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.

There is no doubt that Elon Musk is a highly successful and at the same time controversial personality who always remains in the headlines with his startling views.

But today it is a reality that Elon Musk is now the owner of the world’s top social media platform Twitter, and according to him ‘the bird is free’ now.

His first decision to remove the top two staff of the company on the first day has opened another debate around the world and it will be in discussion for many days. The topic will be a top trending issue on Twitter because the decision of Elon Musk to remove top officials has already become the talk of the town.

Kashif Soomro, By email