Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Rues Elon Musk Deal: ‘It All Went South’

Asked if Elon Musk has proven himself to be the best possible steward for the platform, Jack Dorsey said, “No. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad. Nor do I think the board should have forced the sale.”

By:BLOOMBERG
| Updated on: Apr 29 2023, 18:59 IST
Elon Musk Twitter Bankruptcy Talk: Timeline
Twitter
1/13 He’s told employees to brace themselves for long hours, that “the road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed,” and said bankruptcy was possible. Here’s how the saga is unfolding: (Bloomberg)
Twitter
2/13 Oct. 27: Musk takes control- His first act is to fire the Board along with CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, head of legal Vijaya Gadde and Counsel Sean Edgett. Musk forms advisory team that includes celebrity attorney Alex Spiro, VC David Sacks, Neuralink CEO and head of Musk’s family office Jared Birchall, investor Jason Calacanis, and partner of Andreessen Horowitz Sriram Krishnan. (Reuters)
Twitter
3/13 Oct. 28: Brands begin to take pause- As Musk plans to unban accounts and says he will charge for user verification, advertisers suspend ads. (AFP)
Elon Musk Twitter
4/13 Oct. 31: Top tweeters protest- Amid murmurings of plans to charge existing verified accounts, author Steven King tweets, “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F**k that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.” (AFP)
Elon Musk
5/13 Nov. 1: Teams working around the clock- The product team works over the weekend on Musk’s idea to charge users for blue check marks. A photo of product director Esther Crawford sleeping on the floor of a conference room, trying to make the deadline, goes viral. Meanwhile, managers are asked to make lists of who can be fired. Employees print out their software code for review by Musk and engineers from Tesla, to determine if their contributions are worthy of keeping a job. (REUTERS)
Twitter
6/13 Nov. 3: Massive layoffs begin- A memo is sent to all employees telling them of imminent layoffs and to watch for an email with the subject line: “Your Role at Twitter.” Badge access to offices is suspended as 3,700 staffers receive word that they’ve been cut. Realizing employees essential for the continuity of the business have been let go by mistake, some are asked to come back. (AP)
Elon Musk Twitter
7/13 Co-founder EV Williams tweets, “Heart’s out to the tweeps getting laid off today.” Co-founder Jack Dorsey adds, “I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that.” (REUTERS)
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8/13 Nov. 5-6: Musk responds to celebrity protests- Unrest grows on the platform over the weekend, particularly over the issue of impersonator accounts. Actress Valerie Bertinelli starts a movement of people changing their Twitter names to “Elon Musk.” Comedian Kathy Griffin joins the protest, finds her account locked. Then Musk announces, “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying `parody’ will be permanently suspended.” (AP)
Twitter
9/13 Nov. 8: Musk sells more Tesla- Despite a previous vow not to sell any more Tesla stock, Musk sells an additional $3.95 billion, bringing the total sold in past year to $36 billion. (REUTERS)
twitter
10/13 Nov. 9: Musk Blue tick mark- Blue check mark option becomes available for purchase, and immediately becomes a tool for impersonators. An account masquerading as Nintendo Inc. posts an image of Super Mario holding up a middle finger. (REUTERS)
Elon Musk
11/13 Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and a close cadre of advisers are considering a host of changes to the way Twitter is run and makes money. (REUTERS)
Twitter
12/13 Nov. 10: More key executives quit as Musk warns of bankruptcy- In his first meeting with employees, Musk tells them to brace for 80-hour weeks and requires everyone back in the office full time. He also says bankruptcy for the company is not out of the question if it doesn’t start generating more cash. Several executives in charge of keeping Twitter safe and accountable to its users quit, including chief information security officer Lea Kissner, chief privacy officer Damien Kieran and chief compliance Marianne Fogarty.. (AFP)
Twitter
13/13 Nov. 11: Verified accounts get “Official” tags- Twitter adds badges that say “offiical” to verified accounts in some places, though confusion abounds. More brands depart the platform. (REUTERS)
Jack Dorsey
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“It all went south,” Jack Dorsey wrote about Twitter on Bluesky, the invite-only Twitter alternative that he’s backing. (AFP)

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey — once a supporter of Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the site — is now offering sharp criticism of the new owner and his handling of the deal.

Asked if Musk has proven himself to be the best possible steward for the platform, Dorsey said, “No. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad. Nor do I think the board should have forced the sale.”

After stock markets turned shortly following his offer to buy Twitter a year ago, Musk sought to withdraw from the deal. That prompted a legal battle between the company and the billionaire, before the acquisition was completed at its original offer price.

“It all went south,” Dorsey wrote on Bluesky, the invite-only Twitter alternative that he's backing.

Twitter did not specifically respond to a request for comment.

Dorsey, who was friendly with Musk for years and suggested he get involved with Twitter, was previously publicly in favor of the deal. Last year, he called Musk as owner of Twitter “the singular solution I trust.”

On Friday, one Bluesky user said it was pretty sad how it all went down, to which Dorsey replied “yes.” But Twitter “would have never survived as a public company,” he added in another post. “Would you rather have had it owned by hedge funds and Wall Street activists? That was the only alternative.”

Under Musk, who took over in late October, Twitter cut a majority of its staff and endured a number of public crises, including over its plan for verifying users. Musk has been pitching a subscription service for Twitter in which users can obtain a blue check mark for $8 a month.

“Payment as proof of human is a trap and I'm not aligned with that at all,” Dorsey said on Bluesky. “The payment systems being used for that proof exclude millions if not billions of people.”

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First Published Date: 29 Apr, 18:58 IST
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