Jack Dorsey says Elon Musk was the 'only alternative' for Twitter because it would have 'never survived' as a public company

• Jack Dorsey said Elon Musk had been the "only alternative" to Twitter falling into the wrong hands.
• His takeover was the only way to stop hedge funds and activist investors owning it, Dorsey said.
• Twitter would "never" have survived as a public company, the former CEO said on Bluesky.

Jack Dorsey said Elon Musk was the "only alternative" to Twitter being taken over by "Wall Street activists" even if he didn't turn out as the "best possible" leader for the company.

The Twitter co-founder made the comments in posts on Bluesky, dubbed by users as "skeets", a social media platform backed by Dorsey.

He said the Tesla CEO hadn't "acted right" when he realized the "bad" timing of the acquisition.

But in response to a question from Insider's Thomas Maxwell, Dorsey said: "The company would have never survived as a public company. Would you rather have had it owned by hedge funds and Wall Street activists?"  

Dorsey was also asked by Maxwell what he did to try to restore Twitter's fortunes.

He replied: "We did everything to avert. Ultimately the failure was not having dual class shares. That's not something that can be fixed. Can you explain in detail another solution? We grew the company again after it nearly died. All launches you see today were things team built ready to go. Please enlighten us."

Dorsey has previously made warmer comments about Musk. In 2016 the 46-year-old said Musk's Twitter account was one of his favorites. "He's very open and using it to correct press and if people aren't focused on the right things. I think he's a really good model of how to use it well," Dorsey said at a trade show at the time. 

Only last year Dorsey said he was "really happy" about Musk joining Twitter's board after the SpaceX cofounder took a stake in the company. He also said in a tweet that Musk "deeply cares" about the world and the role Twitter plays in it.

Twitter responded to a request for comment from Insider with an automated email that didn't address the query.