Twitter on Monday named Jack Dorsey its permanent CEO. Dorsey is a co-founder of the social media giant and had been serving as interim head after Dick Costolo stepped down in June.
“My commitment to Twitter runs incredibly deep,” Dorsey said in a call with press following the announcement. “No one is more committed than I am to help achieve its promise.”
It’s no wonder Dorsey chose the word “commitment”: He also plans to continue on as CEO of mobile payments system Square, which he also co-founded. The juggling act will not be without challenges, experts told The Huffington Post.
Twitter’s board had considered Adam Bain, a well-liked senior executive who cultivated Twitter’s advertising business and now runs the revenue-generating side of the company, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Bain, 42, will become chief operating officer, Twitter said in a filing Monday announcing the leadership changes.
In the end, the board went with Mr. Dorsey’s product chops, an area where Twitter has faltered. By returning Twitter to its roots, the board is declaring that its soft-spoken former leader is best suited to build a social-media powerhouse that can compete with social rivals Facebook Inc. and Snapchat Inc. for online advertising dollars. Mr. Dorsey, who sent the first tweet in March 2006, is credited with coming up with the initial idea for sharing status updates in 140 characters or less.
“Our starting point was a full-time CEO,” said Peter Currie, the Twitter board member who led the search. “We didn’t get to a different answer until we had interviewed a wide range of candidates and until we had seen Jack on the job.”
Adam Bain, Twitter’s former head of business who was named chief operating officer on Monday, is optimistic that Dorsey can reinvigorate the platform.
“Jack’s brought fresh thinking to our already strong and diversified business,” Bain said during Monday’s press call.
“We’ve been reviewing our roadmaps to make sure that we are making Twitter for everyone around the world — a lot of initiatives aimed at making sure people can immediately get value out of Twitter and get a lot of power out of it as well,” he continued.
Twitter stock, which hit an all-time low in August and has remained volatile over the last several weeks, rose nearly 3 percent in pre-market trading following Monday’s news.
Source: Huffington Post
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