The time for remorse has come.
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter (TWTR), made a rare public act of contrition on Nov. 5, after the dismissal in one day of half of the platform's 7,500 employees by his friend Elon Musk.
Musk became the owner and new boss of the microblogging website on Oct. 27. Since then, he has sought to find new sources of revenue for the firm, which does not come close to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok in advertising proceeds.
The tech tycoon launched an austerity cure aimed at drastically reducing costs. Consequently, he cut 3,700 jobs on Nov. 4. Most of the employees, who had been asked not to go to the office, received the notice of dismissal by email.
'Many Are Angry at Me'
Many expressed their anger on social networks. And according to Dorsey, a large majority of the firm's employees now resent him.
Without waiting, the billionaire decided to apologize. He felt that what is happening today is his fault. Dorsey, who also founded and runs payments platform Block (SQ), formerly Square, says he made mistakes at Twitter.
One of them was to have grown the company too quickly, without giving it the necessary financial solidity. And this hasty expansion resulted in a rapid increase in staff.
Basically, the billionaire seems to be saying that what his friend Musk is doing is justified. Musk seems to be correcting Dorsey’s mistakes.
"Folks at Twitter past and present are strong and resilient," Dorsey posted on Twitter on Nov. 5. "They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment. I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that."
He added: "I am grateful for, and love, everyone who has ever worked on Twitter. I don't expect that to be mutual in this moment...or ever…and I understand. 💙"
Unsurprisingly, comments from Twitter users were negative. Many of them told Dorsey not to pretend he didn't know what was going to happen once his friend Musk took control.
"Size wasn’t it. The 'cause with a business to fund it' structure created the size FWIW," said one Twitter user.
"Knock it off! You knew what this would do. This is all part of the plan," said another user, then adding a private text message that Dorsey sent to Musk. The message was among the ones which the new Twitter boss made public in the recent legal battle between Musk and the platform.
"I think the main reason is the board is just super risk averse and saw adding you as more risk, which I thought was completely stupid and backwards," Dorsey had said in a text to Musk on March 26.
"Jack we saw the dms. You talked him into buying it. You're responsible for choosing the owner who is tanking what is left of it," added another user.
Dorsey Remains Shareholder
Dorsey did not respond to comments.
On April 25, when Musk made his $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter, the former Twitter CEO posted the following message: "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."
Dorsey will remain a shareholder of Twitter after he rolled over about 18 million of his shares in the new company created by Musk, following the acquisition of the platform. This company is X Holdings I.
In April, when Musk was asked if Dorsey would return once he bought Twitter, his response was as follows:
"Will you bring back Jack?" asked Kathryn Murdoch, the wife of James Murdoch, who is a Tesla (TSLA) board member.
"Jack doesn't want to come back. He is focused on Bitcoin," Musk responded.
