Will Dorsey be Twitter’s Next CEO?
Since Twitter’s former CEO (and former stand-up comedian), Dick Costolo, left the social media giant on July 1, investors have been vehemently searching for Twitter’s new leader, and it looks as if Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s current interim leader of Twitter and Square’s chief executive, may be the best candidate. Will Dorsey be Twitter’s next CEO? Potentially.
Many of Twitter’s investors have publicly supported Dorsey’s transition from interim CEO to permanent CEO. While Dorsey has always been a candidate for the position, he has been listed fairly low on the short list because he is also the CEO of Square. Running two companies can be exhausting, but it seems that Dorsey has the initiative and energy to run both tech companies. Since Twitter has been operating without a permanent CEO for months, investors are pushing for Dorsey to take over.
The CEO job at Twitter has been vacant since Costolo left the company earlier this summer. Costolo’s tenure as Twitter’s CEO was largely positive; in 2013 Time called him one of the 10 most influential tech CEOs.
But during the latter portion of Costolo’s tenure, Twitter’s user growth was stagnant and the company’s stock price was tanking. While the stock price has somewhat stabilized over the past month, as of today, Twitter’s stock about half of its previous high this year, $55.99.
In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Costolo explained that before he left the micro-blogging site, he met with members of the board and tried to form a succession plan; the board immediately brought in Dorsey as interim CEO and began casting a wide net for the company’s new CEO. But since the search began earlier this year, it’s become increasingly clear that Dorsey is the best candidate for the job.
If Dorsey accepts the position as permanent CEO, the question about how to right Twitter’s ship will still be a problem. How will Dorsey turn 140-character tweets into revenue and make the investors happy? Even if Twitter has the cachet to stay current in popular culture (and in many ways, form popular culture), is it possible to make a profit from tweets?
Will Dorsey be Twitter’s next CEO? Again, potentially. But if he accepts the position, he will have his work cut out for him. At this point, however, it doesn’t appear that anyone else is in any better position.
