Battle for the Bird

Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul

By: Kurt Wagner

Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett

Now known as X, Twitter’s messy history—including Elon Musk’s takeover in 2022, its outsized cultural impact, and its significant role in shaping how the world gets its news—is thoroughly and entertainingly revealed in this “absolute triumph of reporting and storytelling” (Ashlee Vance, New York Times bestselling author).

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.

This is the “meticulous and riveting account” (Emily Chang, host of Bloomberg’s The Circuit) 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.

Meticulous Research Packed with Drama

This was an engaging read about the rise and fall of Twitter. Fascinating from a business, tech and political standpoint. Highly recommend, could not put down.

Highly recommend!

Captivating read regardless of your previous knowledge about or interest in the Twitter story. Enticing, informative, and highly enjoyable!

Comprehensive

Kurt Wagner (a Bloomberg News colleague) is a great reporter. Well written. The audio narration (by another gent) is excellent as well.

Learned a Ton

Well written and performed. Learned a bunch about the transition to acquire Twitter by Elon Musk.

That Really Happened!?

As someone who used to listen to 50+ books per year, haven’t finished an audiobook this quickly in a long time. I was hooked from the start, and I’m still in shock that Twitter is a real story. Great job by the author, Kurt Wagner, on hitting on all of the key points.