The former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, tried to incorporate Elon Musk into the Board of Directors of the social network long before the businessman announced his attempt to acquire the company, as revealed by the texts between the two characters included as evidence of the trial between Twitter against Musk.
In a series of text messages, Dorsey shares with Musk what his vision was for Twitter, which was that would work as an “open source protocol” and that it would not have to live on advertising, in order to prevent it from being manipulated by governments or companies.
“I am leaving the Twitter board in mid-May and then completely out of the company. I try to make this work and fix our mistakes. Twitter started as a protocol. It should never have been a company. That was the original sin”, Dorsey said in a message.
Musk replied that he “would like to help, if I can”, after which Dorsey mentioned that he had discussed how he could get more involved in the social network.
The former director of Twitter also points out that one of the reasons why he decided to leave Twitter It was when he tried to add Elon Musk to the Board of Directors, but this refused, considering that the employer would add a greater risk. The attempt to include Musk on the board would have occurred in 2020, when a group of activist investors pushed for changes in the direction of the company.
“I think the main reason is that the board is just super risk averse and they saw that adding you would be more risk, which I think was completely stupid and backwards.”, Dorsey explained.
Musk invited Dorsey to broaden the discussion and try to “move Twitter in a better direction and do something new that is decentralized.”
In April 2022, when it became public that Musk had increased his shareholding above 9 percent, Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter, made official Musk’s invitation to join the Board of Directors.
After this news, Musk wrote to Dorsey again so he could “talk off the record.” A couple of hours later, apparently after the conversation, Dorsey wrote to Musk that he “couldn’t be happier that you’re doing this.”
Musk invited Dorsey to “be super vocal” and point out “if I’m doing something stupid.”
Among other messages that reveal the relationship between Musk and the rest of the Board of Directors, is one in which he apparently tried to convince Parag to “undo permanent bans”, except accounts spam and who explicitly advocate violence. The businessman made public after he considered a Twitter error to have Suspended Donald Trump.
The text messages also reveal a bit of the early relationship between Musk and Agrawal, between scheduling meetings to discuss new products and services and coordinating the work of the engineering departments.
Even, Agrawal appears to dismiss initial employee concerns upon learning Musk was joining the board.noting that “this is not representative” and that there is an “excited silent majority”.
Nevertheless, disagreements also begin to arise when Agrawal decides to call Musk’s attention after he tweeted if “Twitter was dying”. Although the Twitter CEO indicates that Musk is free to tweet what he wants, he writes that it is “my responsibility to tell you that it does not help me improve Twitter in the current context.”
Later, on April 9, Musk responds that he “would not join the Board of Directors” and raises his first intention to “make an offer to make Twitter private”.
Musk officially submitted his purchase offer on April 14, however, on July 8 canceled the purchase agreement by accusing the social network of underestimating the number of fake accounts.
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Jack Dorsey Tried to Add Musk to Twitter’s Board of Directors Before Takeover Attempt | DPL News