Jack Dorsey Slams Elon Musk's Handling of $44 Billion Acquisition Deal: What Happened?

John Lopez, Tech Times 29 April 2023, 08:04 am

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has recently questioned Elon Musk's management of the social media platform's $44 billion acquisition, which was completed last year, Bloomberg reports.

Dorsey had previously supported Musk's purchase of the site but has since expressed his displeasure with the new owner.

Former Twitter CEO Dissatisfied with Musk's Management

Tech Times spotted in April 2022 that the former CEO of Twitter, Dorsey made an unexpected stir by sharing a link to the song "Everything In Its Right Place" by the English rock band Radiohead on his official Twitter account.

Later, it was revealed that this cryptic tweet by the Twitter co-founder was actually a reference to the $44 billion buyout deal between the social media giant and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Not only that, but Dorsey also retweeted a tweet by former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal: "I'm really happy Elon is joining the Twitter board! He cares deeply about our world and Twitter's role in it."

"Parag and Elon both lead with their hearts, and they will be an incredible team," he adds.

But Dorsey's outlook on Musk came around. When asked whether Musk had proven himself to be the best possible steward for the platform, Bloomberg tells us that Dorsey responded with a firm "No."

He also criticized Musk for his handling of the situation after realizing that the timing was bad, adding that he did not think the board should have forced the sale.

What happened?

A court dispute between the company and the billionaire marred the acquisition deal. Musk attempted to back out of the agreement after the stock market crashed immediately after his proposal to buy Twitter. It was eventually finished, though, at the original bid price.

Dorsey, who had suggested that Musk get involved with Twitter and was previously publicly in favor of the deal, wrote on Bluesky, the invite-only Twitter alternative he is backing, that "it all went south."

'It All Went South'

Under Musk's leadership, Twitter laid off most of its employees and faced several public crises, including one over its user verification plan.

Musk has been pushing a Twitter subscription service in which users can fetch a blue check mark for $8 per month. However, Dorsey has stated that "payment as proof of human is a trap, and I'm not aligned with that at all."

He also stated that the payment systems used for verification exclude millions, if not billions, of people.

Despite his criticisms, Dorsey defended the sale of Twitter to Musk, claiming that the company "would never have survived as a public company" and that the only alternative was for hedge funds and Wall Street activists to own it.

Twitter and Musk are yet to issue any response.

Dorsey, who used to work for Twitter, criticized Musk for how he manages the social media platform. Musk's way of running Twitter has caused some people to criticize him. They think his focus on making money and verifying users goes against what the company stands for.

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