Twitter’s Jack Dorsey jabs the board as Elon Musk proposes takeover

Elon Musk’s audacious bid for Twitter has attracted a range of opinions from outside the company as well as some unexpected input from a prominent insider – its co-founder.

Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey has in recent days taken a vague swipe at the board he has long been part of. Picture: Denis Charlet / AFP

Elon Musk’s proposed takeover of Twitter has drawn a range of opinions from outsiders to the social-media company, as well as some unexpected input from one very prominent insider: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

In recent days, Mr Dorsey, who stepped down as the company’s chief executive in November but remains a director, has taken a vague swipe at the board he has long been a part of and seemingly endorsed criticism of a core Twitter feature that was instituted more than a decade ago when he was chairman.

The comments, which Mr Dorsey has declined to explain further, have at times seemed to align him with Mr Musk against the social-media company – an unusual predicament even in a battle that was already among the most unconventional takeover fights in memory.

On Monday, Mr Dorsey tweeted that he agreed with a user who complained that too many users abuse the retweet button on Twitter, a feature that was launched under his watch. “One click retweets are assault on attention. Wish I could filter by original tweets and quote retweets only,” the user wrote.

That same day, Mr Dorsey tweeted in reference to Twitter’s board: “it’s consistently been the dysfunction of the company”.

When one person questioned on Twitter how Mr Dorsey can complain about the board when he ran the company for years, his answer suggested there were explanations he couldn’t share.

He tweeted: “so much to say … but nothing that can be said”. Mr Musk, CEO of Tesla and Space Exploration Technologies, unveiled a $US43bn unsolicited takeover bid for Twitter last week, though he has yet to detail how he’d finance it. He has unleashed a stream of criticism and suggestions about the platform and its policies.

The company hasn’t formally responded to Mr Musk’s bid but has since adopted a so-called poison pill to prevent Mr Musk from increasing his stake beyond 15 per cent.

Mr Dorsey has been a fan of Mr Musk’s for years. While CEO at Twitter, Mr Dorsey twice invited Mr Musk to speak at employee events, according to a former director. Mr Musk wasn’t available the first time but came through later, joining over video to cheers from attendees, this person said. “I get the sense that he’s rooting in a way for Musk,” the person said.

Mr Dorsey hasn’t taken a public position on Mr Musk’s bid, though Twitter said its board’s decision to adopt the poison pill provision was unanimous. Mr Dorsey is expected to leave the Twitter board next month.

Like Mr Musk, Mr Dorsey is an iconoclast who’s cut an unusual path among Silicon Valley’s prominent founders. He is known for his fondness for meditation as well as his efforts to simultaneously run two tech companies, Twitter and his payments company, Block formerly known as Square. Like Mr Musk, he is an iconoclast who has run multiple companies.

A spokesman for Twitter declined to comment. Mr Dorsey and Block didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Dorsey’s recent tweets about Twitter aren’t necessarily an endorsement of Mr Musk’s bid for the company, though some of the tweets and previous remarks do signal an alignment with Mr Musk’s thinking in areas such as content moderation, platform features and business operations. Mr Dorsey’s candour as of late has been unusual for someone in his position.

“I don’t expect someone who is a board member of a large public company and who meditates as often as he says he does to air their dirty laundry in public,” said Cascend Securities analyst Eric Ross, who’s covered Twitter since 2016.

Still, Mr Dorsey’s views aren’t likely to have a big impact on the board’s handling of Mr Musk’s bid because “he’s clearly washed his hands of Twitter,” said Mr Ross.

Mr Dorsey and Mr Musk have a history of sharing their mutual admiration in tweets and other public settings. They both share a strong interest in cryptocurrency and are now also the only individuals among the top 10 shareholders in Twitter. Mr Musk is number two on the list with a 9.13 per cent stake, after Vanguard Group with 10.29 oer cent, while Mr. Dorsey ranks at number seven with a 2.25 per cent stake, according to FactSet.

Analysts say if anything, Mr. Dorsey could potentially help rally employees, shareholders and individual investors in Mr. Musk’s favour should he be more openly supportive.

Mr Dorsey took a more restrained approach to self-expression on Twitter when he was its CEO. He stepped down from the position last year and was replaced by Parag Agrawal, who was previously Twitter’s chief technology officer. At the time Mr Dorsey said he had decided to leave Twitter because it was “ready to move on from its founders.” The departure was driven in part by investors uncomfortable with his roles running two large, publicly traded companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

After it was disclosed in early April that Mr. Musk had acquired 9.2 per cent of Twitter, the company invited him to join its board, and Mr Dorsey publicly welcomed him. “He cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it,” Mr Dorsey wrote in a tweet. Mr Musk, after agreeing to join the board, decided not to, before launching his acquisition effort.

By then, Mr Dorsey had already made it clear that he and Mr Musk saw eye-to-eye in unexpected ways. In late March, Mr Musk tweeted that Twitter’s algorithm should be open source. Mr Dorsey replied in support of that comment, saying: “The choice of which algorithm to use (or not) should be open to everyone”.
The Wall Street Journal