Jack Dorsey's Stance on Elon Musk's Leadership of Twitter
Key Highlights :
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, was once an ardent supporter of Elon Musk's purchase of the social media platform. But when recently asked if Musk has proved to be the right person to lead Twitter, Dorsey was blunt in his response. "No. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad," Dorsey wrote on Bluesky, a decentralized social application.
Musk's purchase of Twitter in April 2022 for $44 billion ended up in court and was completed in October. Since then, the Tesla CEO has cut staffing by three-quarters and presided over a series of dizzying changes, including reinstating accounts that were banned for rule violations, then re-banning some of them when they broke the rules again; requiring users to pay for "verified" status; and leaning into the subscription model.
Dorsey wrote that "we did everything to avert" Twitter's failure, but that ultimately he was powerless to stop the sale. "Was I optimistic? Yes. Did I have final say? No," Dorsey wrote on Bluesky. However, he said that Musk should have dropped the acquisition deal and paid a $1 billion penalty. "I think he should have walked away and paid the $1b," Dorsey wrote.
Many experts said at the time that abandoning the deal would have cost Musk much more than a $1 billion penalty written into the agreement. Dorsey started backing Bluesky in 2019, when he was still CEO of Twitter. The new social app is currently in private beta.
Jack Dorsey's stance on Elon Musk's leadership of Twitter is clear. He believes that Musk should have walked away from the deal, and that the board should not have forced the sale. Dorsey also believes that Musk's changes to the social media platform have been dizzying and misguided. It remains to be seen whether Musk will be able to turn Twitter around and make it a success, but for now, Dorsey's opinion of the billionaire's leadership is not favorable.
