Oh, Yeah’: Jack Dorsey’s Nostalgic Recall To The Day When He Began Programming Twitter In 2006
What Happened: On Wednesday, Bloomberg’s Jon Erlichman took to X and shared a video saying, “On this day in 2006: Jack Dorsey began programming Twitter.”
Reminiscing the old days, the co-creator and former CEO of Twitter, Dorsey, reposted the video and said, “oh, yeah.”
Dorsey was the first person to send a tweet on the platform stating, “just setting up my twttr.”
Previously, it was reported that Dorsey got the idea for building Twitter from police scanners. He was obsessed with listening to police scanners which led to the idea of enabling people to update what they are doing in real-time.
Similar to what happened with Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, Dorsey was also fired from the company he created in 2008, only to return to the company in 2015 and lead it.
In fact, as per the reports, after being fired from Twitter, the Block Inc. (NYSE:SQ) CEO Dorsey was also approached by Meta Platforms Inc.’sMark Zuckerberg, but he turned down the position.
Meta was reportedly considering purchasing Twitter, but it was the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Musk, who eventually acquired the social media platform for $44 billion in October 2022.
Dorsey’s Twitter had one of the most high-profile IPOs back in November of 2013, selling shares for $26 and raising $1.8 billion. However, while the company roared out of the gate after going public, it gradually struggled to monetize customers.
Why It’s Important: After Musk acquired Twitter, he let go of the then Twitter CEOParag Agrawal and around 1,500 employees, that is 80% of the original workforce prior to the acquisition.
He also unbanned several prominent but controversial accounts who were found to be in violation of Twitter policies. This included the account of former President Donald Trump.
In October 2023, one year after Musk acquired Twitter, it was reported that the platform’s value declined to less than half of its purchase price. At the time, the company’s valuation stood at $19 billion, equivalent to $45 per share, based on the restricted stock units granted to employees.
