Listen to “#782 Elon Musk’s $44 Billion Twitter Takeover Failure” on Spreaker.
On this episode of The Small Business Radio Show…
When Elon Musk first announced his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, the billionaire tech mogul believed that his ownership of the company would restore free speech to the masses and even help to preserve humanity. Then, almost immediately, everything went sideways.
Kurt Wagner is a Bloomberg journalist who used his years of knowledge and experience covering social media to write the ultimate book on the story of Twitter: “BATTLE FOR THE BIRD: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter’s Soul.” In the book, Kurt presents a deeply reported, insider exploration into the key moments and decisions that led to Musk’s $44 billion Twitter purchase – and the legal and cultural chaos that soon followed.
“BATTLE FOR THE BIRD: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter’s Soul” exposes the messy reality and relentless challenges that come with building a global social network, the real-world impact of Musk’s corporate takeover, and employees’ growing horror as Dorsey’s idealistic promises (and the “Twitter” name) go up in flames before their eyes.
- Why Did Elon Musk buy Twitter?
- Why did he think he could restore ensure free speech and preserve humanity?
- The timing of the deal was terrible.
- Jack Dorsey’s relationship with Elon Musk is a key reason that the Twitter deal got done.
- Why Jack Dorsey believed Twitter’s decision to become a business, and not just a non-profit, was Twitter’s “original sin.”
- Why did Elon Musk change the name of the company from Twitter to X?
- Elon does not seem to understand the advertising industry, and yet he bought a business that makes 90% of its revenue from advertising.
- Twitter’s downfall – it never figured out how to turn that massive cultural impact into a comparable business.
- What happens to X five years from now?
