Elon Musk buys Twitter

Elon Musk officially secured an agreement to purchase Twitter Monday (April 25). News that a deal was in the final stages of discussion broke late Sunday, following weeks of public back-and-forth between the social media company and the world’s richest person.

“Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion,” read a press release announcing the news. “Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.”

Twitter users eyed news of the looming sale with everything from excitement to trepidation. Alex Stamos, Facebook’s former Chief Security Officer, took a moment to call for a feature which would allow people to mass delete their direct messages.

“Hey, Twitter Product Management: This would be a great week to add a ‘Delete all DMs’ button,” he wrote as rumors of a possible sale swirled.

Twitter direct messages are, notoriously, not end-to-end encrypted: meaning, of course, that Twitter employees (or possibly a vindictive owner…) have the technical capability to read them.

Musk, for his part, has a demonstrated history of questionable posts on the platform he now controls.