Elon Musk Spent Nearly 7 Times Jack Dorsey's Net Worth to Buy Twitter

Elon Musk spent nearly seven times the net worth of Twitter's former CEO, Jack Dorsey, to purchase the platform on Monday.

Dorsey, who resigned as CEO last fall, has a net worth of $6.6 billion, according to Forbes. Musk's offer was $46.5 billion, but Musk and Twitter struck a deal for $44 billion on Monday.

Tesla's CEO first offered to buy Twitter on April 14, a week after becoming the company's largest shareholder. Musk announced on April 21 that he had $46.5 billion set to purchase the social media platform, and on Monday, the deal was finalized at $2.5 billion less than that.

Twitter initially adopted a "poison pill" policy to allow Twitter shareholders the ability to dilute Musk's stake, but according to The Wall Street Journal, after Musk raised his offer to $46.5 billion, the stock market reacted favorably and Twitter "changed its posture" and agreed to negotiations.

While the title of Twitter CEO was taken over by Parag Agrawal in November, Dorsey remained on the board of directors and owns a small share of the company—a reported 2.25 percent stake.

Musk, who is considered the world's richest man, according to a Forbes tally, is an avid Twitter user and has a following of 83 million people. In his public tweets, he has been critical of how Twitter functions, and he has shared that he plans to turn the platform into a private company.

"I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," Musk wrote in a letter last week, made public by the SEC.

"However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company," he added.

In an interview in 2019, Dorsey commended Musk for his influence on the platform.

"To me personally? I like how Elon Musk uses Twitter. He's focused on solving existential problems and sharing his thinking openly. I respect that a lot, and all the ups and downs that come with it," he wrote.

Now that the deal is finalized, many Twitter users fear that the platform will take a drastic turn, and some have considered leaving. Still, Twitter's stock surged on Monday before the deal was reached.

On Monday, Musk tweeted: "I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."

Newsweek reached out to Twitter and Musk for comment.