An expertly reported investigation into Twitterâs messy corporate historyâincluding Elon Muskâs takeover in 2022, its outsized cultural impact, and its significant role in shaping how the world gets its news.
Bloomberg journalist Kurt Wagner takes you inside Twitterâs everchanging headquarters, charting its rise from flippant 140-character posts to one of the worldâs most consequential tech companies. From Jack Dorseyâs triumphant return as CEO in 2015 to the rise and fall of @RealDonaldTrump to the contentious $44 billion sale to Elon Musk, Battle for the Bird exposes the messy reality and relentless challenges that come with building a global social network. With enthralling minute-by-minute accounts of Muskâs controversial takeover from insider employees, Battle for the Bird exposes the real-world impact of the South African billionaireâs new role as owner, and employeesâ growing horror as Dorseyâs idealistic promises (and the âTwitterâ name) go up in flames before their eyes.
Battle for the Bird is the definite, objective, and substantive account of the fight over the worldâs most influential social media platform. Now, for the first timeâthrough deeply sourced, exclusive interviewsâyou will discover how the visionary promises of one iconoclast gave way to the darker, yet-to-be-defined motives of another, upending the virtual status quo and impacting the flow of news and information to the masses.