What Triggered Elon Musk To Takeover X? An Upcoming Book Gives The Answer (Image: X/@KurtWagner8)
In October 2022, Elon Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, now known as X. There have been a lot of speculations regarding what led to the billionaire”s acquisition of X. An upcoming book, titled ‘Battle for the Bird,’ unveils the backstory leading to Elon Musk”s takeover of X. The book is penned by Bloomberg’s Kurt Wagner.
“Battle for the Bird”, which is set to be released on February 20, narrates the story of the popular micro-blogging platform from its inception. The book indicates that a decision by Parag Agrawal, former CEO of the X, may have led to Elon Musk”s eventual takeover. A Bloomberg report on the book said that Parag Agrawal turned down a request made by Elon Musk to suspend an account named @ElonJet, and this paved the way for Musk’s historic acquisition of the social media platform.
The account @ElonJet, which tracked Musk”s private jet movements using public data, was run by 21-year-old Jack Sweeney. Notably, Jack Sweeny was a student at the University of Central Florida. The 21-year-old American programmer also reportedly tracks the private jet travel of several popular figures through multiple accounts. This includes former US President Donald Trump, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and pop sensation Taylor Swift. It is worth mentioning that Jack Sweeny recently made headlines as Taylor Swift and her team were threatening legal action against him for his flight tracker.
“Musk had also unsuccessfully petitioned Agrawal to remove a Twitter account that was tracking his private plane; the billionaire started buying Twitter shares shortly after Agrawal denied his request,” reads an excerpt from the book, as quoted by Livemint.
X has witnessed significant changes since Elon Musk”s takeover. In November 2022, the platform announced that it would charge a monthly fee for verification stickers. Twitter also fired the majority of its employees after Musk”s acquisition. In July 2023, the billionaire unveiled a new “X” logo to replace the company”s blue bird logo.
