Elon Musk, boss of Twitter and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gave an impromptu interview to the BBC on Tuesday evening
Speaking at Twitter HQ, he covered topics ranging from mass lay-offs to hate speech and his habit of sleeping in the office
The billionaire admitted he only bought Twitter because he had to, and described running the firm as "quite painful" and "a rollercoaster"
He also spoke about mass lay-offs he has overseen, saying the company was now down to 1,500 staff members from an initial 8,000
The BBC objected this week to a new label describing it as "government funded media" on its main Twitter account - and Musk agreed the tag would be changed
Addressing his controversial tweets, he said: "I think I should not tweet after 3am"
And he disputed that hate speech and misinformation was now more common, as investigations have found
Musk talks about the cash flow issues at Twitter when he arrived, which led to his decision to lay off workers at the social media company.
He says there was "a $3bn negative cash flow situation", leaving Twitter with "four months to live".
Clayton asks whether the sacking of so many workers was justified.
Musk responds that "drastic action" needed to be taken.
Elon Musk has been in charge of Twitter since he bought the social media company last October and has faced some controversy since taking on the role.
He has certainly put his stamp on the business.
Many of his decisions have proved divisive - which is pretty much what has come to be expected of the billionaire businessman who is also CEO of SpaceX and Tesla.
Asked what his first impressions were of Twitter, Musk laughs and recalls he thought it was a "really nice office building".
He adds they thought the company was "spending money like it's going out of fashion".
He then highlights how the financials of the company "$4.5bn in revenue, 4.5bn in costs" had created a negative cash flow situation. He says it was being run "really like a non-profit".
Musk is being asked about his decision to buy Twitter - and why he almost pulled out of the deal.
He's asked about his bid to buy the firm, followed by his decision to pull out of the bid - and then again his decision to commit to buying it.
Our correspondent asks whether the reason Musk changed his mind and bought the company was because a judge would've made him do that.
Musk laughs and says matter-of-factly: "Yes, that is the reason."
Asked how his time at Twitter is going, Musk says: "It's not been boring. It's been quite a rollercoaster."
He says things are going "reasonably well", stating that usage is up and "the site works".
He acknowledges some glitches, including some outages on the site. But he says that the outages have not been for very long and the site is currently working fine.
Asked if he sleeps in the office, Musk says: "I sometimes sleep in the office."
He adds that he has a spot on a couch in a library "that no one goes to".
Musk says he has the "utmost respect" for the BBC, before mentioning his recent disagreement with the organisation over the Twitter tag.
He laughs while saying the BBC "didn't like" the term "state-funded media". Our correspondent says the BBC rejected it outright.
Musk says Twitter's aim is to be transparent and honest but agrees the tag can, and will, be updated.
"We want it as truthful and accurate as possible – we're adjusting the label to "[the BBC being] publicly funded – we’ll try to be accurate," Musk says.
The interview has started.
The BBC's James Clayton asks, "Why did you agree to do this interview?"
"Spontaneity," replies Musk, "and there's a lot going on".
"I actually do have a lot of respect for the BBC," he adds, stating that the interview is "a good opportunity to ask some questions" and " to get some feedback on what we should be doing different".
The BBC objected to a new tag on its main Twitter account, describing it as "government funded media".
The BBC contacted Twitter over the designation on the @BBC account to resolve the issue "as soon as possible".
"The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee," it said.
In response, Musk said he believed the BBC was one of the "least biased" outlets. When BBC News highlighted to the Twitter boss that the corporation was licence fee-funded, Musk responded in an email, asking: "Is the Twitter label accurate?"
He also appeared to suggest he was considering providing a label that would link to "exact funding sources".
Musk agreed unexpectedly to a last-minute interview with our correspondent at Twitter HQ this evening.
The BBC only received the invitation at very short notice.
Let's see what he wants to talk about.
Image source, ReutersHello and welcome to our live coverage of Elon Musk's interview with the BBC's North America technology reporter, James Clayton.
Musk - who owns Twitter - is never far away from the headlines.
Most recently, in a stream of controversies relating to the social media platform, Musk had to respond to objections from the BBC over the labelling of its Twitter account as "government funded media".
Stay with us as we bring you live updates of the interview.