Jack Dorsey, Twitter TWTR +0.00%
cofounder and the microblogging site’s interim CEO, is expected to be
officially named as the company’s permanent CEO as early as Thursday, according to a report in the tech blog Re/code.
Citing unnamed sources Re/code said it is believed that Dorsey, 38, will also continue to serve as CEO of micropayments company Square, which he founded. Twitter and Square declined to comment for this article. Twitter’s stock spiked briefly after Re/code published its report.
The news, if confirmed, will come as no surprise to Silicon Valley, which has been waiting for Twitter to announce its next leader since former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down on July 1 amid heat from investors over slowing user growth. Soon after Costolo’s departure, sources close to the company have been saying increasingly that Dorsey would get the job and that he wanted to lead both companies. The other top candidate was Twitter’s head of revenue Adam Bain. But various reports suggested that Bain didn’t want to compete with Dorsey for the job.
Buzz about Dorsey’s imminent appointment has intensified recently. Even though Dorsey hasn’t made a public statement of interest in the Twitter job, he never said his hat was not in the ring. Sources throughout the Valley have said in recent days that Dorsey would be named shortly, as several major Twitter shareholders, including billionaire and early investor Chris Sacca and Suhail Rizvi’s firm Rizvi Traverse Management, publicly endorsed the idea of Dorsey running both companies.
A major sticking point appeared to be the declaration by Twitter’s board when it began the search process that it would only consider a full-time CEO. But as no other top candidates emerged, sources suggested the board would back down from that demand, and possibly be shaken up itself. Re/code reported that sources said there will likely be some turnover on Twitter’s board.
Another sticking point appeared to be Square’s impending IPO. The company filed to go public quietly during the summer and is expected to make its intentions official in the next few weeks. Some pundits suspected that as the company embarked on a road show, Square and its backers would want to have the full attention of Dorsey. But in recent days, two major Square investors, Roelof Botha, of Sequoia Capital, and Keith Rabois, of Khosla Ventures, made it clear they would not be opposed to Dorsey holding both jobs.
If Dorsey is picked to lead Twitter and stays on as CEO of Square, he’ll join a select group of tech titans who have led two companies at once. Steve Jobs simultaneously led Apple and Pixar, and Elon Musk runs SpaceX and Tesla.
Since Costolo officially stepped down, the stock has fallen about 28%, as of the close on Tuesday, and several product executives have left the company. Dorsey said in July that the social network, which is struggling to add users and simplify its service, hasn’t been making bold product changes quickly enough, citing a lack of discipline within the company, as well as the need to better rally employees internally around the same vision. Technology news site The Information reported on Tuesday that Dorsey has plans to update the platform to make it easier to tweet through longer-form publishing tools.
Twitter also recently unveiled plans to hand-curate live events coverage in a project called Lightning, expected to roll out later this year. However, Twitter might already be late to the game. In June, Instagram launched new live events features on its Explore page, a move that challenges Twitter as the source for tracking real-time conversations and trends. Twitter is generally known as a source for news, and Instagram is has been viewed as a more personal social platform. However, the apps’ differences are becoming increasingly blurred as Twitter becomes more visual and Instagram focuses more on events.
Unfortunately for Twitter host of other young, social apps are giving Twitter a run for its money. Messaging apps Snapchat and Kik and video app Dubsmash are also growing quickly, emphasize video-sharing and target millennials.
Sacca declined to comment, but took to Twitter to suggest that those who are betting against the company are likely to get burned.
Citing unnamed sources Re/code said it is believed that Dorsey, 38, will also continue to serve as CEO of micropayments company Square, which he founded. Twitter and Square declined to comment for this article. Twitter’s stock spiked briefly after Re/code published its report.
The news, if confirmed, will come as no surprise to Silicon Valley, which has been waiting for Twitter to announce its next leader since former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down on July 1 amid heat from investors over slowing user growth. Soon after Costolo’s departure, sources close to the company have been saying increasingly that Dorsey would get the job and that he wanted to lead both companies. The other top candidate was Twitter’s head of revenue Adam Bain. But various reports suggested that Bain didn’t want to compete with Dorsey for the job.
Buzz about Dorsey’s imminent appointment has intensified recently. Even though Dorsey hasn’t made a public statement of interest in the Twitter job, he never said his hat was not in the ring. Sources throughout the Valley have said in recent days that Dorsey would be named shortly, as several major Twitter shareholders, including billionaire and early investor Chris Sacca and Suhail Rizvi’s firm Rizvi Traverse Management, publicly endorsed the idea of Dorsey running both companies.
A major sticking point appeared to be the declaration by Twitter’s board when it began the search process that it would only consider a full-time CEO. But as no other top candidates emerged, sources suggested the board would back down from that demand, and possibly be shaken up itself. Re/code reported that sources said there will likely be some turnover on Twitter’s board.
Another sticking point appeared to be Square’s impending IPO. The company filed to go public quietly during the summer and is expected to make its intentions official in the next few weeks. Some pundits suspected that as the company embarked on a road show, Square and its backers would want to have the full attention of Dorsey. But in recent days, two major Square investors, Roelof Botha, of Sequoia Capital, and Keith Rabois, of Khosla Ventures, made it clear they would not be opposed to Dorsey holding both jobs.
If Dorsey is picked to lead Twitter and stays on as CEO of Square, he’ll join a select group of tech titans who have led two companies at once. Steve Jobs simultaneously led Apple and Pixar, and Elon Musk runs SpaceX and Tesla.
Since Costolo officially stepped down, the stock has fallen about 28%, as of the close on Tuesday, and several product executives have left the company. Dorsey said in July that the social network, which is struggling to add users and simplify its service, hasn’t been making bold product changes quickly enough, citing a lack of discipline within the company, as well as the need to better rally employees internally around the same vision. Technology news site The Information reported on Tuesday that Dorsey has plans to update the platform to make it easier to tweet through longer-form publishing tools.
Twitter also recently unveiled plans to hand-curate live events coverage in a project called Lightning, expected to roll out later this year. However, Twitter might already be late to the game. In June, Instagram launched new live events features on its Explore page, a move that challenges Twitter as the source for tracking real-time conversations and trends. Twitter is generally known as a source for news, and Instagram is has been viewed as a more personal social platform. However, the apps’ differences are becoming increasingly blurred as Twitter becomes more visual and Instagram focuses more on events.
Unfortunately for Twitter host of other young, social apps are giving Twitter a run for its money. Messaging apps Snapchat and Kik and video app Dubsmash are also growing quickly, emphasize video-sharing and target millennials.
Sacca declined to comment, but took to Twitter to suggest that those who are betting against the company are likely to get burned.
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
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