– “Elon Musk and the destruction of Twitter”
Kate Conger and Ryan Mac’s new book offers an insider’s look at Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter – and its consequences.
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Four translators were at work so that “Elon Musk and the Destruction of Twitter” could be published in German on October 15th, just a month after the first English edition. However, the pun of the original title: “Character Limit” was lost in the translation. With this, the authors Kate Conger and Ryan Mac not only describe the character limit for a tweet – which has now been lifted for premium subscribers – but above all the character limitations of their anti-hero Elon Musk.
They trace the largely chaotic takeover of the short message service and its consequences by one of the richest men in the world. On the one hand, they are focusing on 2022, the year in which Musk began secretly buying Twitter shares in January, made the $44 billion takeover offer in April – via tweet, of course – and tried to get out of the deal over the summer months , and in which the company took ownership at the end of October.
Their sources are internal documents and interviews with people involved. That is why the second part of the book is particularly informative. It tells how Musk made erratic decisions after taking over Twitter – later X – without taking technological limitations, the working hours of his employees or Twitter’s founding ethos into account.
Unsurprisingly, Musk did not grant the authors an interview. For fans of him and his business practices, it is probably not the right read. On the other hand, anyone who has already scrolled through the officially authorized Musk biography by Walter Isaacson, which was published a year ago, and wondered whether the Twitter/X story wasn’t told a little too rosily, should read this newly published book read.
However, for non-Twitter users and anyone who takes a more neutral stance towards Musk, the question arises as to whether they really want to read 640 pages of testimonials from disgruntled former Twitter employees – even though the anecdotes they contain are about Musk’s unpredictable nature Behavior is quite entertaining.
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Title: Elon Musk and the Destruction of Twitter – The Inside Story
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Originaltitel: Character Limit – How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter
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Written by: Kate Conger and Ryan Mac
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Translated by: Hans-Peter Remmler, Karsten Petersen, Marlene Fleißig, Oliver Lingner
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Publisher: Rowohlt (German), Penguin (English)
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First published: in English September 17th, in German October 15th, 2024
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Number of pages: 640
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Price: from 42.30 Fr.
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Mara Bernath is an editor in the markets department and writes primarily about raw materials, geopolitics and trade issues. More info@MaraBernath
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