Character Limit

How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter

By: Kate Conger, Ryan Mac

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews

“Riveting . . . Character Limit offers a telling lesson in the cost of getting everything you want.”—The Washington Post

“You couldn’t hope for a better ringside seat on the unfolding drama . . . [Character Limit] is a triumph.”—The Guardian

“Masterful in how it paints a picture and puts you in the room with the famous entrepreneur . . . Character Limit is a page turner.”—Forbes

Rising star New York Times technology reporters, Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, tell for the first time the full and shocking inside story of Elon Musk’s unprecedented takeover of Twitter and the forty-four-billion-dollar deal’s seismic political, social, and financial fallout

The billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become inextricable from the social media platform that until 2023 was known as Twitter. Started in the mid-2000s as a playful microblogging platform, Twitter quickly became a vital nexus of global politics, culture, and media—where the retweet button could instantly catapult any idea to hundreds of millions of screens around the world, unleashing raw collective emotion like nothing else before. While its founder had idealistically dreamed of building a "digital town square," he detested Wall Street and never focused on building a profitable business.

Musk joined the platform in 2010 and, by 2022, had become one of the site’s most influential users, hooking over 80 million followers with a mix of provocations, promotion of his companies, and attacks on his enemies. To Musk, Twitter—once known for its almost absolute commitment to free speech—had badly lost its way. He blamed it for the proliferation of what he called the “woke mind virus” and claimed that the survival of democracy and the human race itself depended on the future of the site. In January of 2022, Musk began secretly accumulating Twitter stock. By April, he was its largest shareholder, and soon after, made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company for the unimaginable sum of $44 billion dollars. Backed into a corner, Twitter’s board accepted his offer—but Musk quickly changed his mind, forcing Twitter to sue him to close the deal in October. The richest man on earth controlled one of the most powerful media platforms in the world—but at what price? Before long Twitter would be gone for good, replaced by something radically different, as Musk remade the company in his own image from the ground up.

The story of the showdown between Musk and Twitter and his eventual takeover of the company is unlike anything in business or media that has come before. In vivid, cinematic detail, Conger and Mac follow the inner workings of the company as Musk lays siege to it, first from the outside as one of its most vocal users, and then finally from within as a contentious and mercurial leader. Musk has shared some of his version of events, but Conger and Mac have uncovered the full story through exclusive interviews, unreported documents, and internal recordings at Twitter following the billionaire’s takeover. With unparalleled sources from within and around the company, they provide a revelatory, three-dimensional, and definitive account of what really happened when Musk showed up, spoiling for a brawl and intent on revolution, with his merciless, sycophantic cadre of lawyers, investors, and bankers.

This is the defining story of our time told with uncommon style and peerless rigor. 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?

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

Critic reviews

“Riveting . . . Character Limit offers a treasure trove of answers regarding Elon Musk’s somewhat shadowy acquisition of [Twitter], both in terms of the financials and his motivation . . . Having focused on the exploits of Musk for over a decade, Conger and Mac draw on more than 150 hours’ worth of interviews conducted with a cadre of Musk’s confidants, rivals, employees and peers to paint an eye-opening picture of his tumultuous tenure as the controversial CEO of three of the world’s most talked-about companies . . . Alternating between delicious gossip and harrowing warnings about the power possessed by a worrisome few, Conger and Mac’s reconstruction of Musk’s time at Twitter often paints the billionaire as a tantrum-prone narcissist who always gets his way, whatever the costs . . . Character Limit offers a telling lesson in the cost of getting everything you want.”—The Washington Post

“How can you make a story compelling when each step along the way has already been so heavily covered? Conger and Mac’s answer to that is their astonishing ability to take the reader into almost every room that mattered during the contentious $44bn acquisition . . . there is no doubt that Conger and Mac enjoyed unmatched access to a range of characters from all sides. You couldn’t hope for a better ringside seat on the unfolding drama . . . As a retelling of exactly what happened and what it felt like to be there, it is a triumph.”—The Guardian

“If you’re at all interested in what went down, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a well-written, deeply researched book with all sorts of details about the lead-up to the acquisition, the acquisition itself, and the aftermath of Elon owning Twitter. Even if you followed the story closely as it played out (as I did), the book is a worthwhile read . . . ”—Techdirt

We thought we knew…we really didn’t

Such a thrilling, engaging book. Like so many, i fell in love with early Twitter and have since followed its destruction at the hands of one man.

He not only blew $44 billion and disrupted countless lives in his insatiable need for attention, he is also solely the course of most of his problems.

I’m generally not a proponent of schadenfreude, but if any one person deserves it, it’s this guy.

He will cry into his billions, but I’m not sure he will ever find the universal heraldry he so desperately wants.

This king has no clothes.

Kate and Ryan have truly created a masterpiece. I have a hard time believing imagining anything being a more definitive work about the particular period in Twitters saga.

Bravo for a remarkable book. I genuinely couldn’t put it down. It’s easily my favorite book of the year!

Fascinating

This is a blow by blow of Elon musks takeover of twitter. It’s petty dry reporting but it’s a fascinating story. The reader is excellent.

Not sure this is the best book to be narrated

I like the book, especially its writing and details, but am not sure this book is suitable for audio book. Because the too-detailed depiction might be a distraction for understanding of the story. I imagine reading it must be different.
And I just wish the narration of the book could be more colorful. It was too pale in this book.

What a takedown

The most brutal takedown of Elon Musk, truly awesome story and storytelling, very fast paced, like being a fly on the wall to the acquisition and fall of Twitter

What far money can buy and destroy.

To show how inhuman Elon can be. How he used his money to control people lives.

Revealing

This is an amazing story of vanity, hubris and a deranged man. i deleted my Twitter account after this.

Incredible reporting

I don’t know how late and Ryan got the access they did, but this is simply an extraordinary account. Brilliant.

Lost in Space

Compelling investigative journalism, The authors connect dots that provide insights into an individual filled with contradictions. Notably obsessed by megalomania, with the luxury of wealth to entertain absurdities and eccentricities we receive insights into the psychosis of a highly influential individual. It reveals the consequences of a world out of balance, the vast chasm dividing America and its infectious nature on the global community.

Phenomenal

Excellent book and production. The authors’ meticulous research and reporting is evident in every chapter. I couldn’t stop listening and was saddened when it was over.

Depressing but engrossing

Obviously well researched and well written. Makes me wish we could bring back the guillotine.