Jack Dorsey has been reaffirmed as Twitter’s chief executive after a board committee, including representatives of activist hedge fund Elliott Management, examined the social media group’s leadership structure.
Elliott bought a per cent stake in the company in February, agitating for management changes to improve its operations. The formation of a “Management Structure Committee” to review Mr Dorsey’s leadership was part of a ceasefire agreement with the hedge fund.
The main point of concern for Elliott is Mr Dorsey’s divided responsibilities, as he is also the boss of Square, the payment company he co-founded. According to people familiar with the situation, dissatisfaction was also expressed over his leadership style and his plans – later canceled – to explore the opportunities of cryptocurrencies in Africa for at least half a year this year, according to people familiar with the situation.
After initially searching for Mr. Dorsey to be fired, Elliott agreed that he was in a position to live up to challenging performance goals.
According to a regulatory filing released late Monday evening, the Management Structure Committee “expressed its confidence in the management and recommended that the existing constitution be upheld.”
The company said the committee – which includes Elliott partner Jesse Cohen and Silver Lake co-chief executive Agan Durban – evaluated the company’s current management structure, new operating plans and processes, as well as the company’s significant improvements, through a recent report quarterly. And financial operations ”.
Shares on Twitter have risen nearly 20 percent since Elliott announced its stake in the company on February 28, giving the hedge fund a paper profit of about 200 200m.
The board agreed to a change in governance designed to respond more to shareholder concerns. According to the filing, the director will be selected for annual terms rather than multi-year terms, and the company has also “updated the CEO follow-up plan consistent with best practices”.
A Twitter spokesperson will not share more details about the inheritance plan.
The public expression of support for Twitter’s management comes years after the bruises for Mr Dorsey, who has come under fire for the company’s decisions surrounding keeping content centered on the platform.
The chief executive faced accusations from Republicans on a Senate panel last week that his company was suppressing Rs servile voices, as well as Democratic senators complaining that police misinformation and hate speech on that platform were not enough.
Separately, Twitter’s cybersecurity practices were called into question when many celebrity users were affected by a high-profile hack in July.
When Twitter posted strong financial performance in its third-quarter results last week, user growth fell short of expectations in the quarter and it warned of further delays in launching the long-awaited new advertising system – sending its share price down 17 per cent. St. on that news.
Shares of Twitter fell 6.6 percent on Monday, but traded up 1 per cent in after-hours trading. cent was higher.
Additional reporting by Sujit Indap in New York
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