New York
CNN Business
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Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey resigned from the company’s board earlier this year, but he’s staying involved with the social platform following its takeover by Elon Musk.
Dorsey flipped over 18 million of his Twitter shares (roughly a 2.4% stake) to the new Musk-owned company as an equity investor, rather than receiving a cash payment, according to a securities filing. on thursday.
The transfer means Dorsey effectively contributed just under $1 billion to Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter. It also makes him one of the biggest investors in the new company, after Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and the Qatar Investment Authority.
Dorsey’s decision makes him one of the few stakeholders on Musk’s Twitter with ties to previous leadership. Almost immediately after taking over the company, Musk dissolved Twitter’s board of directors. Much of the company’s C-suite has also been fired or resigned in recent days.
Dorsey and Musk have long had a relationship with billionaires. In 2020, Dorsey called Musk into an employee conference call and asked for his advice on improving Twitter. Later that year, Musk defended Dorsey when he was facing pressure from an activist investor, saying on Twitter, “I support @Jack as CEO of Twitter. He has a good ❤️.”
After Telsa’s CEO initially agreed to buy Twitter in April, Dorsey posted on Twitter that he doesn’t “believe that anyone should own or run Twitter,” explaining that he believes it should be a public good. “The solution to the problem of being a company, however, Elon is the unique solution I believe,” he added.
Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO last November and left the board of directors in May. He has publicly criticized the company’s former board, as well as privately questioning the company’s future.
In messages with Musk in March, after the richest man in the world had built up a large chunk of Twitter stock, but before announcing it publicly, Dorsey said, “A new platform is needed. It cannot be a company. That’s why I left.” Musk responded by asking what the platform should look like. Dorsey explained his view that it should be “an open source protocol” and not rely on “an advertising model” as Twitter currently does.
Dorsey added that Twitter “should never have been a company,” saying, “that was the original sin,” according to the text messages, which were revealed last month in court filings.
“I think it’s worth trying to take Twitter in a better direction and do something new that’s decentralized,” Musk told Dorsey.
Dorsey earlier this month launched a beta test of a new, decentralized social media app called Bluesky, which could eventually compete with Twitter. As of October 20, the app had a waiting list of more than 30,000 people. said on Twitter.
In April, after Musk agreed to buy the company, Dorsey pledged his support for the takeover. “I appreciate you. This is the right and only way. I will continue to do whatever it takes to make it work,” the Twitter founder told Musk.
Dorsey has not commented publicly on Musk’s acquisition since the deal closed last week.
