Chapter 160

On October 26, 2022, days before closing his Twitter acquisition, Musk visits headquarters and immediately clashes with the company's culture. He tours the upscale facilities, meets employees at the coffee bar, and conducts product-review meetings while his team of engineers and lawyers assesses which staff to retain. A tense subplot involves securing Jack Dorsey's stock rollover into the new entity.

Musk arrives at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters in an Art Deco building carrying a sink as a visual pun ("Let that sink in!"). He tours the renovated, amenity-rich office with yoga studios, free meals, and gender-inclusive restrooms—trappings he views skeptically. The chapter contrasts Twitter's culture of "psychological safety," work-from-home flexibility, and empathy with Musk's philosophy that discomfort drives progress and urgency. During product meetings, he discusses payment systems, journalism subscriptions, and competing with Substack. When wandering the nearly empty building mid-afternoon, he finds a small group of employees at the tenth-floor espresso bar. He asks for super-hot coffee and listens to pitches, including one from engineer Ben San Souci on crowdsourced moderation. A female employee directly asks if he will fire 75 percent of staff; Musk denies the number came from him but acknowledges revenue shortfalls and the need to cut costs. Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX engineers occupy conference rooms analyzing Twitter's code and organization, while Musk's lawyers and bankers prepare for takeover logistics. Musk also negotiates with co-founder Jack Dorsey to roll over his stock equity into the new private company by pledging to pay him the acquisition price ($54.20 per share) if he needs liquidity later. The chapter ends with Agrawal checking in on Musk, who says his brain is full and needs sleep to process the day's information.