World's Richest Man Elon Musk Buys Twitter for $44 Billion

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, agreed to acquire Twitter for $44 billion on Monday, ending a drama that included hostile takeover threats before handing him personal control of one of the world's most powerful social media networks.

Former US President Donald Trump used Twitter as a platform before being banned, and Musk, a self-described "free-speech absolutist," has indicated he wants to overhaul what he regards as the platform's overzealous content management.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement released by Twitter."I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans.