What you need to know
- Elon Musk could temporarily serve as CEO of Twitter once the acquisition closes.
- He will reportedly take over the role from current CEO Parag Agrawal, who has only been on the job for five months.
- Musk has reportedly lined up a new CEO for the social media company.
It has been a few days since Twitter agreed to sell itself to the world's richest man for $44 billion, but it has largely remained a mystery whether the acquisition would result in a major leadership shake-up at the company. As it turns out, Elon Musk will likely take over as interim CEO once the deal is completed.
According to CNBC's David Faber, who cited sources familiar with the situation, Musk is expected to lead Twitter for only a few months. This means he won't be in the position for long, corroborating a previous Reuters report that he had lined up a new CEO for the company.
Twitter's CEO, Parag Agrawal, will remain in place until the acquisition is completed, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. The transaction is not expected to be completed for another six months.
Agrawal has only been in the job for five months, having taken over for Jack Dorsey in November. However, in a meeting with employees last week, he reportedly expressed regrets about leading Twitter and told employees that he wished "we had done better with lots of things."
"There are things I disagree with fundamentally," Agrawal said in leaked audio obtained by Business Insider. "I wanted us together to change those things in the interest of improving, introspecting and making Twitter better for everyone around the world and to have everyone around the world use Twitter and have it be even more impactful."
Meanwhile, Musk disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that he had secured an additional $7.14 billion in new funding commitments from friends and investors. Musk reportedly picked the investors himself, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, among others.
