Oct. 28, 2022 — Today’s Biggest News Stories

After months of legal back-and-forth and public drama, Elon Musk became the owner of Twitter on Thursday night.

CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and head of legal, policy, and safety Vijaya Gadde have been fired, according to the Washington Post. The closure of the deal and the firing of top executives were not immediately communicated internally to Twitter employees. One staffer told BuzzFeed News they learned about the deal closing by seeing a tweet from @PopCrave.

Twitter employees have not been thrilled about the new boss. After a report emerged that Musk planned to fire up to 75% of the workforce, Twitter employees drafted an open letter demanding fair treatment under the new regime. On Wednesday, Musk carried a porcelain sink into Twitter’s San Francisco office and reportedly told workers he did not intend to cut three-fourths of them.

Musk also explained his rationale for purchasing the platform: “I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love.”

She was a journalist with lifelong ties to Putin. Then she fled.

• Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian journalist and Vladimir Putin’s rumored goddaughter, has fled to Lithuania. Russian intelligence has ordered Sobchak’s arrest due to her ties to Ostorozhno Media, a news group in Russia that continued to criticize the Kremlin after war broke out, the Guardian reports.

SNAPSHOTS

A 27-year-old’s death reveals the potential health risks of working in the cannabis industry. Lorna McMurrey died three days after being admitted to the hospital on Jan. 7 of “occupational asthma due to exposure to ground cannabis.”

Share your personal finance questions with us. “Money — making it, spending it, sharing it, borrowing it, investing it — is complicated,” reporter Venessa Wong writes. “My hope is this column will be a safe place to both ask for both nuts-and-bolts advice on how to navigate big and small financial issues as well as an outlet for processing difficult feelings about money and class.”

Fans are defending Taylor Swift against backlash towards her “Anti-Hero” music video, after a clip of her discussing her past eating disorder resurfaced. The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.

Five terrifying true stories of murder on Halloween. 👀👀👀👀