Jack Dorsey criticizes Elon Musk’s leadership at Twitter: ‘It all went south’

Twitter’s former CEO Jack Dorsey openly criticized Elon Musk’s leadership of the company in a series of social media posts Friday, writing that “it all went south” and Musk “should have walked away” from the acquisition.

Users of Bluesky, a buzzy new social media platform that is being touted as a potential alternative to Twitter, prompted the discussion. They asked Dorsey if he believed Musk was the right leader for Twitter, to which Dorsey replied, “No.”

“No. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad. Nor do I think the board should have forced the sale. It all went south,” Dorsey wrote. He added that he is glad new social media platforms like Bluesky are being built. Dorsey has backed Bluesky since 2019, when he was still serving as Twitter’s CEO.

Dorsey previously called Musk the “singular solution” to take over Twitter. In a tweet from April 2022, Dorsey said he trusted Musk’s “mission to extend the light of consciousness” through the platform.

But a year later, Dorsey’s opinion appears to have soured.

Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has drawn ire for his tumultuous takeover of Twitter, which he acquired for $44 billion late last year. Musk’s steep job cuts, sweeping policy and feature changes have shaken the confidence of advertisers, politicians and celebrities, among others.

Many have publicly announced their decision to leave or reduce their use of the platform, including Elton John, Jim Carrey and MTA, New York City’s public transit agency.

Soon after making a best-and-final bid to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, or about $54.20 per share, Musk tried to back out of the deal he made to buy the company.

He would have had to pay a $1 billion penalty, otherwise known as a “breakup fee,” to do so and prove to a Delaware court that he had a good reason for walking away. While Musk did take the matter to court, he ended up going through with the deal anyway.

Dorsey, who is still a Twitter shareholder, championed the deal at the time. But on Friday, he wrote that things should have gone differently. “I think he should have walked away and paid the $1b.” It is not clear that Musk, or Twitter, even had that option.