In accordance with the terms of the merger, Twitter’s board of directors was dissolved, making Elon Musk the company’s sole leader. In his current role as owner, director, and self-proclaimed “Chief Twit,” he has virtually complete control over who gets hired and fired and how the social media site operates.

The controversial purchase of the platform by Musk was detailed in an SEC filing by the company.

[A]s a result of the consummation of the Merger, Mr. Musk became the sole director of Twitter. In accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement, effective as of the effective time of the Merger, the following persons, who were directors of Twitter prior to the effective time of the Merger, are no longer directors of Twitter: Bret Taylor, Parag Agrawal, Omid Kordestani, David Rosenblatt, Martha Lane Fox, Patrick Pichette, Egon Durban, Fei-Fei Li and Mimi Alemayehou.

Some or all of those names may be familiar to you, and it’s true that Twitter’s board of directors included many prominent figures from Silicon Valley. However, their timer has run out, and the agreement over which they argued has been finalised.

Not that this is ever done before in a private takeover of a public company, but it is standard operating procedure. The board of directors spoke on behalf of the shareholders, who have since sold their holdings. Having a board purged in this way and new members installed as an advisory and decision-making body alongside company leadership is not unprecedented. However, it is hard to say with any certainty what would be “normal” because there are so few examples of private takeovers at this scale, let alone examples with comparable context.

In any case, the result is that Twitter effectively has a dictator at the helm, who is reportedly making sweeping changes, such as instituting company-wide cuts and charging for verification.

Perhaps as much a mystery to Musk as it is to anyone else, Musk’s plans for Twitter’s future leadership structure are ultimately within his purview as the company’s sole director. Part of the complicated and potentially risky financing of the deal may involve putting certain individuals (or even kingdoms) in positions of actual authority and responsibility.

Although he is the sole director, Musk reportedly has a number of cronies and operators working for him.