--- title: "Elon Musk Started Screaming About Zuckerberg Immediately After Signing Twitter Deal" description: "A new book about Elon Musk's Twitter takeover is apparently full of wild stories — including one, of course, about Mark Zuckerberg." date: "2023-11-09" modified: "2023-11-09" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-zuckerberg-twitter-deal" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "mark zuckerberg" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Elon Musk Started Screaming About Zuckerberg Immediately After Signing Twitter Deal ![A new book about Elon Musk's Twitter takeover is apparently full of wild stories — including one, of course, about Mark Zuckerberg.]() *SpaceX, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, in central England, on November 1, 2023. (Photo by TOBY MELVILLE / POOL / AFP) (Photo by TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images\* ## Press F A new book about Elon Musk's Twitter takeover is apparently full of wild stories — including one about the profanities he screamed immediately after inking his deal to purchase the site. Best known for penning the book that became "[The Social Network]()," author [Ben Mezrich told journalist Kara Swisher]() during a recent interview that the billionaire's gleeful ire was pointed directly at rival CEO Mark Zuckerberg in that fateful moment a year ago. "There's a scene when Musk signs the papers to take over Twitter," Mezrich told Swisher, and "the first thing he screams out is, 'Fuck Zuck! Fuck Zuck!' — which I haven't seen reported anywhere else." At this point, anything we hear about Musk's rivalry with the Meta-formerly-Facebook CEO seems like it could be true, now that the two are still [vaguely threatening]() to engage in hand-to-hand combat with each other — once Zuckerberg recovers from his torn ACL, an injury he got while training, that is. Indeed, Musk took to the podcast of significantly more infamous host Joe Rogan [on Halloween]() to discuss his beef with his rival apparent. "Zuck pulled out, he used the pull-out method," Musk, the father of multiple children [born via in-vitro fertilization and/or surrogacy](), joked about the Meta CEO's decision to [postpone their cage match]() in August. "He accused me of not being serious. I said, 'Listen, at the end of the day, I'll fight you any place, anywhere, under any rules.'" "I don’t think he should fight me," the Twitter owner continued. "I’m like 50 percent heavier than him." ## Big Heads During his interview with Swisher, Mezrich mused that while both tech giants have massive egos, Musk is — to put it lightly — worse. "I think that Elon is much more, in my opinion, the dictatorial control person than Mark is," the author said. "I think Mark, to me anyways, is a little bit more of the nerd, as the guy in the corner with the computer — and Elon isn’t that." While promoting "Breaking Twitter," Mezrich also appeared on *CNBC*'s "[Squawk Box]()" and dropped another stunning detail from the new book: that during one Musk "spiral," Twitter employees nearly [called in a wellness check]() on him. "He got to a point where he locked himself in his office, was so upset that the Twitter employees were considering calling a wellness check by the San Francisco police because they thought he was going to self-harm himself," the author said. It's not shocking that the guy who documented both the [foundations of Facebook]() and the [GameStop stock short bonanza]() has packed these sorts of stories in his latest work — and as with all things Muskian, even the [craziest stories]() ring automatically true. **More on Musk endeavors:** [*Neuralink Ready to Start Letting Robots Implant Chips into Human Brains*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()