Jack Dorsey reveals lack of faith in Twitter via texts with Elon Musk

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey revealed a lack of faith in the company he founded through texts to Elon Musk shortly before the billionaire announced his $44 billion takeover deal, which he is now battling to escape.

Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter last November and remained on the board until late May, just one month after the company announced it had agreed to sell to Musk at $54.20 per share. The Tesla tycoon had long shown interest in the social media platform before then — he quietly started accumulating stock in January, drawing the eye of his pal, Dorsey.

Elon Musk (L) and Jack Dorsey (JIM WATSON/)

In a text message sent on March 26, the former Twitter exec said “a new platform is needed. It can’t be a company. This is why I left,” per CNN. Dorsey added that he believes that the platform should have “an open source protocol” and not rely on “an advertising model,” otherwise “you have a surface area that governments and advertisers will try to influence and control.”

Twitter “should never have been a company,” Dorsey texted. “That was the original sin.”

“I think it’s worth both trying to move Twitter in a better direction and doing something new that’s decentralized,” Musk responded.

The Twitter page of Elon Musk is seen on the screen of a computer in Sausalito, Calif., on Monday, April 25, 2022. (Eric Risberg/)

Dorsey ultimately agreed and encouraged his friend to reach out to Twitter’s current CEO Parag Agrawal. After a few seemingly friendly text exchanges, tension started to emerge between the pair when Musk tweeted out “Is Twitter dying?” back in April.

“It’s my responsibility to tell you that it’s not helping me make Twitter better in the current context,” he texted.

“What did you get done this week?” Musk snarked back before adding that he wouldn’t join Twitter’s board and that he intended to take it private.

Dorsey tried to repair the relationship between Agrawal and Musk, but to no avail.

“At least it became clear that you can’t work together,” Dorsey wrote in a later text. “That was clarifying.”

Jack Dorsey (MARCO BELLO/)

Drama between the pair have only continued in the weeks since. It’s been further fueled by Musk’s efforts to escape the deal over the company’s alleged refusal to provide an accurate tally of bots and fake accounts currently on the site. On July 9, he filed notice to scrap the takeover, prompting the social media company to file suit, and then Musk’s countersuit.

The private exchanges between Musk and Dorsey and Musk and Agrawal were released in court filings on Thursday as part of the pre-trial discovery process in the court battle over whether Musk has to follow through on the merger. The cache of texts also include messages with controversial podcast host Joe Rogan, who expressed his support for Musk’s purchasing of the platform.

“I REALLY hope you get Twitter. If you do, we should throw one hell of a party,” he wrote.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/)

The duo additionally discussed the importance of free speech on the site.

Musk also texted his brother, Kimbal, and Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle, in a bid to line up investors for the deal.