By
Svetlana Soroka
April 18th, 2024
It is evident that Jack Dorsey wanted Musk to come on the board of directors at Twitter. However, he did not think other executives would support him.
In a recent revelation of private conversations between former Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) CEO and Tesla’s Elon Musk, Dorsey suggested to Musk that the microblogging and social network service should be based on “open source protocol, funded by a foundation.” The private chats are parts of the exhibits in the ongoing case between the Tesla CEO and Twitter. Apparently, the board of directors is trying to hold the billionaire on his offer to buy the company.
On the 19th of September, a New York Times reporter, Kate Conger, posted the archives of text messages on Twitter. The exhibit was taken from court documents highlighted by Internal Tech Emails. Marked as Exhibit H and J. In the collection of text messages, Musk conversed with many other tech personalities apart from Dorsey. They are FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Investor-podcaster Jason Calcanis, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. During a conversation that happened around the time Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO, Musk called the former CEO’s expressed approach “super interesting.”
Jack Dorsey Tells Musk Twitter Should Be Signal Like Protocol, Texts Reveal
Further, Dorsey seems to have a different opinion other than Twitter maintaining traditional corporate ownership. He said the microblogging platform should be funded by a foundation with no control over the underlying public protocol. He suggested not having an advertising model, noting that “a little bit like Signal has done. It can’t have an advertising model.” The Twitter co-founder explained that an advertising model gives the government and advertisers the power to influence and control the company. “If it has a centralized entity behind it, it will be attacked,” he continued.
As for Musk, his response seemed like he was receptive to the idea. The business tycoon stated:
“I think it’s worth both taking Twitter in a better direction and trying something decentralized.”
In addition, it is evident that Jack Dorsey wanted Musk to come on the board of directors at Twitter. However, he did not think other executives would support him. In a March 26th text message, Dorsey wrote, “the board is just super risk averse and saw adding you [Musk] as more risk.” Shortly after the conversion, the Tesla CEO announced plans to join the Twitter board. After, he changed his tune to buying the company. Not long after Twitter agreed to the purchase worth $44 billion, the billionaire changed course again and wanted out of the deal. While Twitter wants Musk to fulfill his end of the agreement, the two parties are set to go to the Delaware Chancery Court next month.
Twitter stock is currently up 0.44% to $42.93 in the pre-market trading session. It declined over 31% over the past year and another 1.11% in its YTD record. TWTR has gained 11.80% in the last three months. The company has also popped 10.64% over the past month and 2.79% in the last five days.