5 Revelations Unearthed in Twitter Tell-All

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By Todd Wasserman2013-10-09 14:12:32 UTC

New York Times reporter Nick Bilton unearthed a few previously unknown facts about Twitter for his upcoming book, Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal.

The book won't be available to the public until Nov. 5, but an excerpt appears in this Sunday's upcoming New York Times Magazine and appeared online on Wednesday. Though many have already written reams about Twitter's founding, it is to Bilton's credit that a lot of new information can be found in the 4,000-plus word article. Among the new factoids:

1. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to recruit Jack Dorsey.

In 2008, Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams were effectively sharing the job of Twitter CEO. After Dorsey got defensive and asked Williams, "Do you want to be CEO?," Williams replied that yes, he did. Dorsey was soon offered $200,000 severance and a face-saving role as the company's chairman. The next day, Dorsey called the Facebook CEO to convey the news. Zuckerberg, who was interested in buying Twitter, asked if Dorsey's role could be salvaged. After that:

Zuckerberg switched his plan from trying to buy Twitter to trying to hire Dorsey. So Dorsey met with Chris Cox, who ran Facebook’s product division, at a Philz Coffee in San Francisco. The discussions soon became more serious. But they didn’t have a specific role in mind. Zuckerberg wanted Dorsey to simply join Facebook in an unspecified capacity, and they would worry about a position later.

The fact that Zuckerberg didn't have a clear role for Dorsey at Facebook dissuaded him from joining the company.

2. Al Gore wanted to buy Twitter at one point.

According to the Times excerpt, Gore "pitched Williams and [Biz] Stone one night over copious amounts of wine and Patron tequila at his St. Regis suite in San Francisco." Among other potential suitors were Steve Ballmer, who approached Williams during a private dinner at Bill Gates' home, and the aforementioned Facebook.

3. Dick Costolo's first tweet as a Twitter employee was prescient.

Williams hired Costolo as COO after the two bumped into each other at a dinner party. Costolo, a former improv comedian, offered this tweet just prior to starting there: “First full day as Twitter COO tomorrow. Task #1: undermine CEO, consolidate power.” Costolo became CEO in 2010.

4. One of Twitter's co-founders was completely cut out.

Noah Glass, who was instrumental in creating Twitter and even came up with the name, was maneuvered out of his job at the company early on by Dorsey, according to Bilton. Glass now "lives in an apartment that was built as an earthquake shack that he shares with his girlfriend, his infant daughter and his dog, Ewee." Glass "stands to make about as much as Dorsey’s secretary at Square" from Twitter's upcoming IPO.

5. Twitter could have been known as "Friendstalker."

That name, jokingly suggested by Williams, was "ruled out as too creepy."

Image: Getty/Kara Andrade