Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History

New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich pulls back the curtain on the most volatile, complex, and bizarre corporate takeover in history: Elon Musk’s acquisition and subsequent occupation of Twitter.

In October 2022, Elon Musk marched through Twitter’s front doors carrying a kitchen sink, tweeting a message to his millions of followers: ‘let that sink in’. His takeover came with the promise of fundamental changes, but nothing could prepare the company for the chaos to come – brutal, sometimes arbitrary mass firings, an exodus of advertisers and ‘blue-tick’ celebrities, and a vicious Shakespearean battle for control.

With unique access to Twitter employees and Musk’s confidants, this is the astonishing story from all sides, revealing a wealth of new details. Follow the darkly comic, self-inflicted, and sometimes frightening events that led Elon into an emotional downward spiral.

The whole world was watching. Breaking Twitter provides ringside seats to one of the most dramatic and compelling business stories of our time. Elon Musk didn’t break Twitter. Twitter broke Elon Musk.

‘Uproarious . . . stimulating enough to keep even an unmedicated narcoleptic awake' – Washington Times on The Accidental Billionaires