Musk seals US$44b deal for Twitter, pledges to defeat spam bots

Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc for US$44 billion cash on Monday in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world's richest person.

It is a seminal moment for the 16-year-old company that emerged as one of the world's most influential public squares and now faces a string of challenges.

Discussions over the deal...