What Did Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Say About Elon Musk's Takeover Bid?

Twitter Inc founder TWTR Jack Dorsey, who stepped down in 2021 saying the company is “ready to move on from its founders,” took to the platform on Friday to give his take on the recent Elon Musk bid to take Twitter private.

What Happened: Musk entered an offer on Thursday to purchase all outstanding shares of Twitter, making him the owner of the platform in a deal valued at around $43 billion.

The reason Musk wishes to purchase the platform was outlined in his SEC filing where he wrote, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.

“However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”

Employees of the social media platform are reportedly not happy with the Musk offer, leading CEO Parag Agrawal to host a meeting with its 7,500 employees to reassure them that one man could not change the company culture.

Dorsey seemed to recognize the bid entered by Musk is just business, saying this on Twitter Friday morning.

as a public company, twitter has always been "for sale." that's the real issue. — jack� (@jack) April 15, 2022

Why It Matters: Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist” intends to preserve free speech by taking the platform private. While publicly traded companies are controlled by its shareholders, taking Twitter private would mean that management wouldn’t have to answer to shareholders, giving Musk the free range to "unlock Twitter’s extraordinary potential."

Photo: CellanR via Flickr Creative Commons