Elon Musk Twitter takeover: Founder Jack Dorsey breaks silence

Musk, Tesla and SpaceX chief executive, reached an agreement to buy the social media platform for 54.20 US dollars (£42.20) per share – about 44 billion dollars (£34.5 billion).

Dorsey, who founded Twitter in 2006, gave his blessing to the takeover in a series of tweets

He shared his acceptance of the decision to let Musk take the social media platform into private ownership and away from the ad model and Wall Street.

The idea and service is all that matters to me, and I will do whatever it takes to protect both. Twitter as a company has always been my sole issue and my biggest regret. It has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model. Taking it back from Wall Street is the correct first step.

— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 26, 2022

In the tweet, he wrote: “In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter.

“It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company.

“Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.”

He said he agrees with Musk’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive”.

He added that he believes this is “the right path” for his company.

“I’m so happy Twitter will continue to serve the public conversation,” he said.

“Around the world, and into the stars!”

Musk, the world’s richest person, said last week that he had 46.5 billion dollars (£36.2 billion) in financing to place to buy Twitter, putting pressure on the company’s board to negotiate a deal after it had initially resisted the entrepreneur’s approach for the platform.

In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.

— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 26, 2022

Elon Musk's stake in Twitter

That offer came after the billionaire had bought up a 9% stake in the company and looked set to join its board, before shifting to a takeover bid, saying he wanted to “unlock the potential” of the site.

In the wake of his offer, Twitter had enacted an anti-takeover measure known as a poison pill which could have made a takeover attempt more difficult and expensive, but the firm’s board decided to negotiate after Mr Musk updated his proposal to show he had secured financing, according to reports in the US.

Following the agreement, Mr Musk described Twitter as “the digital town square” in a joint statement with the social media platform.

He said: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”

Musk added that he wants to make Twitter “better than ever”, promising to get rid of spam bots and to open the platform’s algorithms to the public to increase trust.

The Tesla boss had previously said he wanted to buy Twitter because he did not believe it was properly serving the purpose of being a platform for free speech.