Elon Musk’s text exchanges with a number of prominent figures in business and technology have been made public. Musk and Jack Dorsey discussed the platform and Musk’s involvement in a number of private conversations.
Newly released court records demonstrate that before and after the Tesla billionaire became financially involved in the company, Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey exchanged multiple private texts regarding Twitter.
According to a text log submitted as part of Twitter’s continuing lawsuit against Musk, Dorsey, a co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, sent Musk his first text message on March 26, as reported by Business Insider.
In his initial text to Musk about Twitter, Dorsey said “A new platform is needed. It can’t be a company. That’s why I left.”
Musk quickly responded, according to the text log, asking “What should it look like?” Dorsey proceeded to explain what he has said publicly, that Twitter should become an “open-sourced protocol” that looks “a bit like what Signal has done,” referencing the encrypted messaging app. Dorsey also said that Twitter “cant have an advertising model.” Advertising is currently the central business model of social media companies.
Also read | Tesla appoints Airbnb co-founder Joseph Gebbia to board of directors after Ellison’s exit
Musk told Dorsey, “I’d like to help if I’m able.” Dorsey proceeded to tell Musk that he’d actually pushed for his addition to Twitter’s board a year earlier, but Twitter’s board “said no.” He added the Twitter board saw Musk “as more risk, “Which i thought was completely stupid and backwards.”
“That’s about the time I decided I needed to work to leave, as hard as it was for me,” Dorsey continued. This was also the time activist investor Elliot Management got involved in Twitter, demanding a number of changes to the company’s business toward growth and profitability.
Although Dorsey’s conversation with Musk on March 26 was mentioned in a later SEC filing on Musk’s potential offer to buy Twitter for $44 billion, the specifics of the exchanges were kept confidential. Additionally, other SMS sent at a later time were left out.
The day after his more than 9% ownership in the firm became public on April 5, Musk eventually reached an agreement with Twitter to join its board. Musk texted Dorsey to arrange a time to “talk secretly.”
The two texted each other about the call a few hours later. “I couldn’t be happier you’re doing this,” Dorsey told Musk.
“I’ve wanted it for a long time,” Dorsey added. “Got very emotional when I learned it was finally possible.”
When Musk asked Dorsey to advise him if ever he was doing or not doing “something dumb,” Dorsey replied: “I trust you but def will do.”
Just a few days later, on April 9, Musk pointed to conversations with Dorsey in explaining his decision to take the company private in order to fix it.
“This is hard to do as a public company, as purging fake users will make the numbers look terrible, so restructuring should be done as a private company,” Musk wrote in a text to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor. “This is Jack’s opinion too.”
WATCH WION LIVE HERE:
