Elon Musk takes control of Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO -- Elon Musk completed his deal to buy Twitter at $44 billion Thursday, gaining control of the social network company, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the deal.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal have left the company's San Francisco headquarters and will not be returning, said the sources.

Musk lugged a sink into Twitter headquarters on Wednesday. "Entering Twitter HQ - let that sink in!" he captioned the video, which he posted on Twitter. He also renamed himself "Chief Twit" on the social network.

Musk had until Friday to complete his acquisition of Twitter or face a court battle with the company.

In April, Elon Musk announced the 44-billion-dollar acquisition of Twitter. Later in May, he said the deal was temporarily on hold as he asked for details on the number of the social platform's spam and fake accounts. Musk decided to terminate his deal to buy Twitter in July.

Twitter then sued him, alleging he "refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests."

On Oct 4, Musk proposed to proceed with the deal at the original price, just ahead of a trial scheduled at the Delaware Chancery Court on Oct 17, in which Twitter was set to seek an order directing Musk to close the deal for $44 billion.

In a letter sent to Twitter, Musk offered to continue the deal if the court can adjourn the trial and all other related proceedings.

A Delaware Chancery Court judge eventually ruled that Musk had until Oct 28 to cement the Twitter deal or head to trial.