Twitter co-founder Dorsey rues Musk deal: ‘It all went south’

SAN FRANCISCO – Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey – once a supporter of

Mr Elon Musk’s US$44 billion (S$58.7 billion) acquisition of the site

– is now offering sharp criticism of the new owner and his handling of the deal.

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

When stock markets turned shortly after his offer to buy Twitter a year ago, Mr 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,” Mr Dorsey wrote on Bluesky, the invite-only Twitter alternative that he is backing.

Twitter did not specifically respond to a request for comment.

Mr Dorsey, who was friendly with Mr Musk for years and suggested he get involved with Twitter, was previously publicly in favour of the deal. In 2022, he called Mr Musk as owner of Twitter “the singular solution I trust”.

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

Under Mr Musk, who

took over last October,

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

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