Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has weighed in on the company’s board, shortly after it was reported that they would be engaging in a “poison pill” tactic to stop Elon Musk from purchasing the platform.
Dorsey stepped down as Twitter’s CEO last November and is planning to leave the board when his term ends in May.
In a tweet on Sunday, Dorsey responded to a Microsoft employee who tweeted a quote from venture capitalist Fred Destin, which said, “What I do know for sure is that this old Silicon Valley proverb is grounded in age-old wisdom that still applies today: Good boards don’t create good companies, but a bad board will kill a company every time.”
big facts
— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 17, 2022
Dorsey replied, “big facts.”
Another user responded to Dorsey saying, “if [you] look into the history of Twitter board, it’s intriguing as I was a witness on its early beginnings, mired in plots and coups, and particularly amongst Twitter’s founding members. I wish if it could be made into a Hollywood thriller one day.”
“It’s consistently been the dysfunction of the company,” Dorsey replied.
it’s consistently been the dysfunction of the company
— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 17, 2022
When asked if he is allowed to say this, as he still currently sits on the board himself, Dorsey responded, “no.”
no
— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 17, 2022
Dorsey has not yet directly commented about the potential Musk takeover.
Last week, Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share after declining to accept a spot on the board — which would have limited how much of the company’s stock he could purchase.
Prior to Musk declining the seat, Dorsey had tweeted that he was “really happy” that Musk would be joining it.
In response to the purchase offer, Twitter adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan, or “poison pill,” which helps prevent a hostile takeover by diluting the stake of the entity looking to purchase the company, in this case, Musk.
Musk owns approximately 9% of Twitter shares, while Dorsey owns just over 2.2%.
Wow, with Jack departing, the Twitter board collectively owns almost no shares! Objectively, their economic interests are simply not aligned with shareholders.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2022
The rest of the board own nearly none, but are making $250K-$300K per year from the company.
Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2022
Musk has promised to slash the salaries to zero if his bid succeeds.
