- CEO Jack Dorsey has told Elon Musk that Twitter should be made private, the WSJ reported on Friday.
- Other influential businessmen with libertarian ideas also encouraged Musk, the outlet wrote.
- The story cited “people familiar with the matter” and former Twitter executives.
Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey “whispered” in Elon Musk’s ear that the social media platform should be a private company, and other billionaire contacts pressured Musk to pursue the takeover deal he ultimately did, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter CEO in November, publicly and wholeheartedly supported Musk’s purchase, saying it is a “singular solution” to lead Twitter.
Behind the scenes, others were supportive of Musk’s interest in Twitter, especially those who were frustrated by Twitter’s content moderation decisions, the WSJ reported. That group was made up of wealthy and influential people with a libertarian bent and others who scoff at Musk’s strong anti-censorship views that they believe run counter to the way Twitter has been run thus far.
Peter Thiel and David Sacks are apparently two of the people who encouraged Musk, the Journal said. Like Musk, Thiel and Sacks are former PayPal experts often referred to as the “PayPal mob” because of the influence many have amassed in the technology after helping create the payments company.
Musk’s relationship with Dorsey was apparent for a period of time, the WSJ reported.
Their online friendship and general bromance began in 2016 and progressed from there, Insider reported.
According to unnamed former Twitter executives who spoke to the Journal, Musk and Dorsey apparently felt Twitter would be better served as a private company and should be viewed less as a profit machine and more as a positive utility for the public.
Musk and his associates have repeatedly expressed an interest in changing the platform of banned people on Twitter or are upset that people were removed from the platform, according to the WSJ report.
The outlet mentioned that Charles Johnson, who was banned from Twitter for raising money to “take out” a BLM activist, texted the head of Musk’s personal investment office about buying Twitter and he asked when he could get his account back.
“Hopefully soon,” chief investment officer Jared Birchall apparently responded, according to the Journal.
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion. His differing views on how to run the platform, the prospect of him cutting costs to cover how he financed the deal, and his tweets about current Twitter executives involved in content moderation made for a pretty hectic week for Twitter. the company.
But as the WSJ story pointed out, he’s not too fazed by the controversy, and probably never has been: In 2018, in a now-public email, Musk told a PR consultant that he wasn’t going to tweet less.
“I will tweet as I wish and suffer the consequences…that’s right,” he wrote.
Musk, Dorsey and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.