At the outset, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey was not just a supporter but an admirer of Elon Musk’s bid to buy the company. He initially endorsed Musk, stating, “Elon is the singular solution I trust,” and was captivated by his ability to “extend the light of consciousness.” This initial admiration sets the stage for their complex relationship.
Dorsey later criticized Musk’s drastic changes to Twitter. Meanwhile, a book by Bloomberg reporter Kurt Wagner reveals Dorsey’s obsession with Elon Musk. And his plans to save the platform from its “original sin.”
The book Battle for the Bird goes deep into the volatile relationship between Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk before and after the billionaire took over the company. Wagner also reveals in his book how Dorsey helped Musk to buy out Twitter.
Wagner told Engaged that Dorsey and Musk had met at the SpaceX launch facility. Dorsey’s goal was to bring Elon to Twitter offsites. And when Musk disclosed his intention to buy Twitter, “Jack sort of stepped in and did what he could” to help the process.
Jack Dorsey greatly help Elon Musk to takeover Twitter
Dorsey reportedly used his power in the company in 2020 to appoint Musk as a board member. Meanwhile, his attempts failed because the rest of the board members were “super risk averse.” Back then, Musk was under scrutiny for his controversial tweets.
As the book reads, Dorsey’s brawl with activist investor Elliott Management made him hesitate to stay at the company. “He thought that Twitter served this bigger purpose … its place in the world was not to make money for shareholders,” Wagner said. “And as a result, he was just not really that interested in playing the Wall Street game, which is a problem when you’re a publicly traded company.”
Elon Musk came as a savior to Twitter
Dorsey allegedly believed Twitter was far from serving its original purpose as a social platform. So when Musk’s bid to buy Twitter went public, Dorsey reportedly encouraged the billionaire to address the company’s “original sin.” The sin was Twitter’s serving as an entity to only advertisers and political interests.
Dorsey later blamed Musk for trying to back out of the deal and drastically changing the platform. But Twitter was “already unrecognizable.” The book reads, “And as a result, the company that he co-founded and led for almost 16 years in various ways is no more. X is here, but Twitter is gone. His legacy has really been hurt by this whole debacle.”