Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul -- Kurt Wagner, Hardcover

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.

Author: Kurt Wagner
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 02/20/2024
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.80w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9781668017357

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2024
Publishers Weekly 02/12/2024

About the Author
Kurt Wagner is an award-winning business and technology journalist covering social media for Bloomberg, where he has worked since 2019. He's been covering social media since 2013 and has spent years writing about Twitter and its impact on society. He previously worked at the influential tech outlets Recode, Mashable, and Fortune. Kurt grew up near Seattle, went to college at Santa Clara University, and now lives in Denver with his family. Follow him on Twitter or X @KurtWagner8.