Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk, former and current Twitter CEOs.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images
Jack Dorsey last year called Elon Musk the “singular solution I trust” to take Twitter private.
On Friday, Dorsey sharply critiqued Musk, saying he didn’t act right when acquiring the platform.
“I think he should have walked away,” Dorsey wrote of Musk.
Elon Musk is no longer the singular solution Jack Dorsey trusts to run Twitter.
At least, that’s what the former CEO of the social media company posted online on Friday.
When users on Dorsey’s Twitter-alternative site Bluesky asked if he felt Musk had proven to be the “best possible” steward for the site, the Twitter co-founder flatly said he was not.
“No. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad,” Dorsey wrote of Musk. “Nor do I think the board should have forced the sale. It all went south.”
Musk’s behavior in the lead-up to the acquisition and since the purchase — from antagonizing advertisers to sweeping layoffs — has drawn criticism from industry leaders and Twitter users alike in the last year, with some boycotting the platform over his approach.
Dorsey added: “If Elon or anyone wanted to buy the company, all they had to do was name a price that the board felt was better than what the company could do independently. This is true for every public company. Was I optimistic? Yes. Did I have final say? No. I think he should have walked away and paid the $1b.”
During the tumultuous acquisition process, Musk could have backed out of the deal, paying a break-up fee of a billion dollars. Instead, he ultimately completed the purchase of the social media company for $44 billion dollars in October. Dorsey retained his shares in the company.
The latest critiques of Musk are a striking reversal from Dorsey’s lauding of the Tesla leader from a year ago.
In a series of tweets shared in April of last year, before the completed sale of the platform, Dorsey backed Musk’s vision for Twitter, saying Musk’s goal of making the social media platform “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” is the “right one.”
“In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company,” Dorsey wrote. “Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.”
Since acquiring the platform, hate speech has surged on Twitter and, while Musk promised he would create a content moderation council to determine how and whether to remove harmful posts — no such council has been announced. He also polled users about whether he should resign, saying he would abide by the results, but remains active as the site’s current CEO.
Despite the chaos prompted by Musk’s acquisition, the platform, which has long failed to maintain profits, has managed to break even, Musk said earlier this month.
Dorsey and Musk did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment. The Twitter press email sent an automated response to Insider’s request for comment.