Court filing: in March 2022, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told Elon Musk that he tried to add Musk to the board but the other members were “super risk averse”
but sources at twitter told me at the time—is that the turmoil abt elon's stake in the company led to a decent number of ppl quitting, teams collapsing, etc elon's tantrum here isn't just immature, it's a slap in the face to those workers imo https://twitter.com/... Alistair Barr / @alistairmbarr : Jack Dorsey on the Twitter board: “completely stupid and backwards.” https://www.businessinsider.com/ ... via @businessinsider @HaysKali @graceihleCharlie Warzel / @cwarzel : it just doesn't get much better tho than Calcanis with the “Justin Beaver” texts https://twitter.com/... Dan Primack / @danprimack : Elon accuses Silver Lake'sEgon Durban — a Twitter board member who used to sit on Endeavor board w/ Musk, of badmouthing Musk to Morgan Stanley. https://twitter.com/... Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : “Critical for humanity” is always where these makers of ephemeral tech toys lose me. https://twitter.com/...
CNBCLauren Feiner
Context & Ripple Effects
This filing is the first concrete product of Musk's August move to subpoena former CEO Jack Dorsey ahead of the October 17 trial in Delaware Court of Chancery. It lands on top of earlier reporting that Dorsey and other critics of Twitter's direction pushed Musk to launch his bid in the first place — so the deposition record now documents an inside ally, not just an outside bidder.
The disclosure reframes the deal's origin story: months before the tender offer, Dorsey was lobbying internally for a board seat as the cheaper accommodation, and the board's refusal became part of Musk's case that the company mismanaged the approach. Dorsey's subsequent moves — rolling his remaining 2.4% stake into X Holdings rather than cashing out — kept him financially aligned with the acquisition even as his testimony armed Musk against his old board.
First-order effects
Musk's legal team gains direct evidence that Twitter's board rejected a low-cost path (adding Musk as a director) before the $54.20/share fight, sharpening his argument that the board forced the full buyout.
The other Twitter directors named in the dispute are now on the defensive in Chancery, with their 'super risk averse' judgment set up as the counterweight to Musk's breach-of-contract claims.
Second-order effects
Advisors and financiers around the deal face added scrutiny — Musk has already accused Silver Lake's Egon Durban of badmouthing him to Morgan Stanley, so the trial is widening from a two-party contract dispute into a referendum on everyone who shaped the deal.
Twitter employees, who sources say saw quitting and team collapses during the turmoil over Musk's stake, watch their former CEO publicly validate the buyer they feared — deepening internal uncertainty about leadership and retention regardless of the trial outcome.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, founder-aligned insiders backing outside bidders become a repeatable playbook for bypassing reluctant boards — raising governance questions about whether 'risk-averse' director refusals accelerate hostile takeovers rather than prevent them.
Dorsey's arc — ally at the bid's launch, financial rollover into X Holdings, and later Bluesky criticism that 'it all went south' — sketches how insider support for a takeover can invert once operational control changes hands, a dynamic future founder-led buyouts will be measured against.
The trend: Founder-aligned insiders are increasingly the decisive variable in contested tech takeovers, with private texts and court filings replacing boardrooms as the venue where control gets decided.
Decentralized social media is on the horizon (as we've known for a while). And nice to see in plain English the risk of large entities being captured by the state or activists. https://twitter.com/...
So, my “Maybe Elon will buy Twitter and decentralize content moderation” article is aging bizarrely well. https://lawreviewblog.uchicago.edu/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Although i have to say - the violation of privacy from having emails/texts revealed to the world is pretty unfair for people. Texts/emails are how people think now (similar to phone calls) - it borders on thought crime to have to write everything as if it will be public. https://…
Jack Dorsey organized a last ditch meeting on 4/26 between Elon and Parag Agrawal. It apparently did not go well: Jack vouches for Parag before the meeting, then says afterwards that it's clear Elon can't work with Parag. https://twitter.com/...
Wow. This is an amazing thread between @elonmusk and @jack. “Twitter started as a protocol. It should never have been a company. That was the original sin.” - Jack Dorsey https://twitter.com/...
Twitter achieved none of what Jack admits is required for future social networks, and Parag has only gone backwards. Minds has: - 100% open source code - Integration with a company-less decentralized relay protocol called Nostr - Free speech - Encrypted private communications htt…
If Musk does end up owning Twitter (even if he doesn't want it), it seems pretty clear that he wants to turn it into a far-right cesspool. It'll be his right to do that, but I don't think people will stick around in the long run if a “Blake Masters type” is involved in anything. …
Re: the Elon texts. Worth noting that multiple people pleaded with Musk to talk to SBF, who potentially had several billion to invest in the Twitter acquisition. Musk never seemed to respond/follow up with SBF, but he took $500m from Binance.
jack to elon musk about making sure that elon and parag can work together revamping twitter: “i wont let this fail...i'll do whatever it takes...it's too critical to humanity” does he realize how fucking silly he sounds? https://twitter.com/...
@Carnage4Life Elon doesn't want to garner trust, you can align with his vision & deliver or GTFO. Parag was not apparently briefed on this, or told that this was not a dialogue.
Incredible. It really seems like Elon threw a temper tantrum because Parag said his actions were hurting the company... And that tantrum resulted in him signing a binding contract to buy the company that he immediately regretted. https://twitter.com/...
Quick question, isn't Signal also a centralized product with a centralized owner and no decentralized clients? Curious if Jack's issue with Twitter was running it as a business versus non-profit as opposed making it a decentralized product since that makes many problems worse. ht…
I recall talking to a Twitter exec early days who said, verbatim, “we see ourselves as infrastructure, like a telecom” and its well-documented the company refused to build good clients until that posed an existential threat to the biz. https://twitter.com/...
Jack: “I won't let this fail and will do whatever it takes. It's too critical to humanity.” Narrator: “6 hours later...” Elon: “Jack doesn't want to come back. He is focused on Bitcoin.” https://twitter.com/...
NYT reporters are not very sharp. Read that exchange - that is *not* Jack vouching for Parag “He is really great at getting things done when tasked with specific direction” that's a warning that he's limited. https://twitter.com/...
Elon threw a tantrum, impulsively decided to take $TWTR private, and the board surprisingly accepted the offer. He then almost immediately after regretted it and the market tanked. Now he's about to be forced to buy it against his will. Incredible. @elonmusk https://twitter.com/.…
what parag isn't saying here—but sources at twitter told me at the time—is that the turmoil abt elon's stake in the company led to a decent number of ppl quitting, teams collapsing, etc elon's tantrum here isn't just immature, it's a slap in the face to those workers imo https://…
Elon accuses Silver Lake's Egon Durban — a Twitter board member who used to sit on Endeavor board w/ Musk, of badmouthing Musk to Morgan Stanley. https://twitter.com/...