Character Limit

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Brought to you by Penguin.

In a world of viral ideas and emotion, who gets to control the narrative, who gets to be heard, and what does power really cost?

This is the story of the showdown between Elon Musk and Twitter and how the richest man on earth suddenly came to control one of the most powerful media platforms in the world. In Character Limit, award-winning reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac draw on exclusive interviews, unreported documents and internal Twitter recordings to provide a revelatory, three-dimensional, and definitive account of what really happened when Musk showed up to takeover Twitter, spoiling for a brawl and intent on revolution, with his merciless, sycophantic cadre of lawyers, investors, and bankers.

In part, this is the story of Twitter's founder, Jack Dorsey, who idealistically dreamed of building a 'digital town square' but detested Wall Street and never built a profitable business, and Musk, one of the site's most influential users with over 70 million followers. To Musk, Twitter—once known for its almost absolute commitment to free speech—had utterly lost its way. Blaming it for the proliferation of what he called the “woke mind virus”, he claimed that the survival of humanity itself depended on the future of the site.

In January 2022, Musk began secretly accumulating Twitter stock. By April, he was its largest shareholder, and, soon after, he made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company for the unimaginable sum of $44 billion. Backed into a corner, Twitter’s board accepted his offer—only for Musk to change his mind, forcing Twitter to sue him.

Drawing on unparalleled sources, this is the defining story of our time told in vivid, cinematic detail.

'The definitive account of how the world’s richest man, in a fit of unbridled vanity and arrogance, took over and destroyed our digital town square' John Carreyrou, bestselling author of Bad Blood?

‘Astonishing. Kate Conger and Ryan Mac’s meticulous, comprehensive reporting turns an opaque mess brutally transparent’ Jia Tolentino, bestselling author of Trick Mirror

‘Gripping… Through fly-on-the-wall reporting, Character Limit takes readers inside Elon Musk's tumultuous Twitter takeover and the disruption of a company, an industry, and the online public square. What a wild ride' Bradley Hope, bestselling author of Billion Dollar Whale

© Kate Conger, Ryan Mac 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Critics Review

Character Limit is the definitive business book of the 2020s -- a meticulously reported tale of tech-industry hubris, narcissism, and egomania collapsing in on itself at the end of the ZIRP era. Alternately shocking, thrilling, tragic, and hilarious, it perfectly encapsulates the entrenched and warring cultures of Silicon Valley, the deceptively thorny problems of the social-media age, and the fine line between stupidity and genius straddled by a generation of tech entrepreneurs. This book will be read for decades to come, both as the definitive documentation of the end of an era, and as a how-not-to manual for future generations of managers and investors, not to mention M&A bankers and lawyers
Max Read, author of the newsletter READ MAX
Conger and Mac have written an engrossing and detailed history, not just of Elon Musk, but of how we got to a place where the world's richest man wants to buy the world's biggest megaphone. This is a story about power, yes, but it's also about how the corrosion of online life and the addictions of social media can come for us all, even the richest man in the world
Jay Caspian Kang, author of THE LONELIEST AMERICANS
Character Limit is a masterclass in investigative reporting. Mac and Conger's meticulous research provides readers with an unflinching and intimate portrait of Musk's chaotic decision making and high-stakes power plays, and the far-reaching impact of his reckless actions and ethical lapses on users and society at large. This gripping expose reveals previously unreported insights into the acquisition, challenging the mainstream narrative of Musk as a visionary tech genius and revealing how he has upended one of the world's most influential social media platforms. With vivid prose, captivating narrative storytelling, and insightful analysis, Character Limit will be the tech book of the year, and is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the intersection of technology, business, and culture--and anyone who seeks to understand the true cost of innovation without accountability
Taylor Lorenz, author of EXTREMELY ONLINE
Engrossing, precise. . . New York Times reporters Conger and Mac collaborate successfully on an ambitious narrative capturing how Musk engineered Twitter's downfall, set against the vast financial stakes and dehumanizing aspects of the tech economy. . . Compelling fusion of business history and worrisome social narrative
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
So unappealing is the portrait this pair of New York Times technology reporters paint that a more fitting title might be Character Assassination
Observer
Character Limit is an absorbing account of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. It covers the big themes of modern politics - unrestrained billionaires and the lawyers, bankers and other yes-men who enable them; how social media has degraded the public square and melted the brains of its most enthusiastic users; and the eternal quest to find the border between free speech and hate speech
The New Statesmen
A dramatic, fly-on-the-wall narrative
New York Times

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