Elon Musk Agrees to Buy Twitter in $44 Billion Deal

Twitter Inc. on Monday accepted Elon Musk’s bid to take over the company, giving the world’s richest man control over the influential social-media network where he is also among its most powerful users.

The $44 billion deal marks the close of a dramatic courtship and a sharp change of heart at Twitter, where many executives and board members initially opposed Mr. Musk’s takeover approach. The deal has polarized Twitter employees, users and regulators over the power tech giants wield in determining the parameters of acceptable discourse on the internet and how those companies enforce their rules.

The two sides worked through the night to hash out a deal. Earlier on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported Twitter and Mr. Musk had reached an agreement on Twitter’s value.

The takeover, if it goes through, would mark one of the biggest acquisitions in tech history and will likely have global repercussions for years to come related to how billions of people use social media. Mr. Musk, who is also chief executive of Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Inc., must find a way to balance his commitment to less moderation with the business needs of a company that has struggled to reconcile freewheeling conversation with content that appeals to advertisers.