"X.com’s troubles cascaded. Crooks were stealing millions of dollars from PayPal using stolen credit card numbers. Fixing those problems, as well as introducing new features, had to wait while Musk switched PayPal’s operating system over from Unix to Microsoft. Thiel’s loyalists, led by Levchin and then-executive VP (and former Stanford Review editor) David O. Sacks, staged a second coup, according to Jackson’s book. They encouraged their staff members to threaten to quit unless Musk was replaced. He was, in September 2000–by Thiel."
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0214/features-peter-thiel-...
"X.com’s troubles cascaded. Crooks were stealing millions of dollars from PayPal using stolen credit card numbers. Fixing those problems, as well as introducing new features, had to wait while Musk switched PayPal’s operating system over from Unix to Microsoft. Thiel’s loyalists, led by Levchin and then-executive VP (and former Stanford Review editor) David O. Sacks, staged a second coup, according to Jackson’s book. They encouraged their staff members to threaten to quit unless Musk was replaced. He was, in September 2000–by Thiel." http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0214/features-peter-thiel-...