Description

An expertly reported investigation into Twitter s messy corporate history–including Elon Musk s 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 Twitter s everchanging headquarters, charting its rise from flippant 140-character posts to one of the world s most consequential tech companies. From Jack Dorsey s 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 Musk s controversial takeover from insider employees, Battle for the Bird exposes the real-world impact of the South African billionaire s new role as owner, and employees growing horror as Dorsey s idealistic promises (and the Twitter name) go up in flames before their eyes. Battle for the Bird is the definite, objective, and substantive account of the fight over the world s most influential social media platform. Now, for the first time–through deeply sourced, exclusive interviews–you 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.