Chapter 162

On Thursday evening, October 27, Musk executes a surprise early closing of the Twitter acquisition, firing CEO Parag Agrawal and three other top executives before their severance packages and stock options can vest. Working with his legal team in a war room, Musk completes the deal hours ahead of schedule, immediately removes the executives from the building, and begins making product changes to the platform.

Musk and his advisors—including lawyer Alex Spiro, Antonio Gracias, and Jared Birchall—deliberately deviate from the publicly announced Friday morning closing plan. At 4:12 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, October 27, once wire transfer confirmation arrives, they execute dismissal letters for Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett. The timing prevents these executives from collecting severance triggered by a change of control; Agrawal's attempt to resign via email is thwarted when his Twitter access is cut off within minutes. Musk estimates saving $200 million through the accelerated close. While a "Trick or Tweet" Halloween party continues nearby and SpaceX engineers watch a Falcon 9 launch, Musk celebrates with Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes, who brings a montage on free speech and rare bourbon. Musk immediately begins product decisions, directing engineer Tejas Dharamsi to change Twitter's home page to show the "Explore" feed that night rather than a login screen. Later, at David Sacks's home, Musk meets with congressman Ro Khanna and discusses Tesla manufacturing and Ukraine diplomacy rather than the Twitter acquisition.