{"id":17508,"date":"2020-03-08T13:52:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T13:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/twitter-ceos-weak-argument-why-investors-shouldnt-fire-him.html"},"modified":"2020-03-08T13:52:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T13:52:54","slug":"twitter-ceos-weak-argument-why-investors-shouldnt-fire-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/twitter-ceos-weak-argument-why-investors-shouldnt-fire-him.html","title":{"rendered":"Twitter CEO\u2019s weak argument why investors shouldn\u2019t fire him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twitter <\/a> CEO Jack Dorsey might not spend six months a year in Africa, claims the real product development is under the hood and gives an excuse for deleting Vine before it could become TikTok. Today he tweeted<\/a>, via Twitter\u2019s investor relations account, a multi-pronged defense of his leadership and the company\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n

The proclamations come as notorious activist investor Elliott Management prepares to pressure Twitter into a slew of reforms<\/a>, potentially including replacing Dorsey with a new CEO, Bloomberg reported<\/a> last week. Sources confirmed to TechCrunch that Elliott has taken a 4% to 5% stake in Twitter. Elliott has previously bullied eBay, ATT and other major corporations into making changes and triggered CEO departures.<\/p>\n

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\u2026Focusing on one job and increasing accountability has made a huge difference for us. One of our core jobs is to keep people informed. We want to be a service that people turn to\u2026 to see what\u2019s happening, to be a credible source that people learn from.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) March 5, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Specifically, Elliott is seeking change because of Twitter\u2019s weak market performance, which as of last month had fallen 6.2% since July 2015, while Facebook had grown 121%. The corporate raider reportedly takes issue with Dorsey also running fintech giant Square, <\/a> and having planned to spend up to six months a year in Africa. Dorsey tweeted that \u201cAfrica will define the future (especially the bitcoin one!),\u201d despite cryptocurrency having little to do with Twitter.<\/p>\n

Rapid executive turnover is another sore spot. Finally, Twitter is seen as moving glacially slow on product development, with little about its core service changing in the past five years beyond a move from 140 to 280 characters per tweet. Competing social apps like Facebook and Snapchat have made landmark acquisitions and launched significant new products like Marketplace, Stories and Discover.<\/p>\n

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Dorsey spoke today at the Morgan Stanley investor conference, though apparently didn\u2019t field questions about Elliott\u2019s incursion. The CEO did take to his platform to lay out an argument for why Twitter is doing better than it looks, though without mentioning the activist investor directly. That type of response, without mentioning to whom it\u2019s directed, is popularly known as a subtweet<\/a>. Here\u2019s what he outlined:<\/p>\n

On democracy:<\/strong> Twitter has prioritized healthy conversation and now \u201cthe #1 initiative is the integrity of the conversation around the elections\u201d around the world, which it\u2019s learning from. It\u2019s now using humans and machine learning to weed out misinformation, yet Twitter still hasn\u2019t rolled out labels<\/a> on false news despite Facebook launching them in late 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On revenue:<\/strong> Twitter expects to complete a rebuild of its core ad server in the first half of 2020, and it\u2019s improving the experience of mobile app install ads so it can court more performance ad dollars. This comes seven years late to Facebook\u2019s big push around app install ads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On shutting down products:<\/strong> Dorsey claims that \u201c5 years ago we had to do a really hard reset and that takes time to build from\u2026 we had been a company that was trying to do too many things\u2026\u201d But was it? Other than Moments, which largely flopped, and the move to the algorithmic feed ranking, Twitter sure didn\u2019t seem to be doing too much and was already being criticized for slow product evolution as it tried to avoid disturbing its most hardcore users.<\/p>\n

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On stagnation:<\/strong> \u201cSome people talk about the slow pace of development at Twitter. The expectation is to see surface level changes, but the most impactful changes are happening below the surface,\u201d Dorsey claims, citing using machine learning to improve feed and notification relevance.<\/p>\n

Yet it seems telling that Twitter suddenly announced<\/a> yesterday that it was testing Instagram Stories-esque feature Fleets in Brazil. No launch event. No U.S. beta. No indication of when it might roll out elsewhere. It seems like hasty and suspiciously convenient timing for a reveal that might convince investors it is actually building new things.<\/p>\n

On talent:<\/strong> Twitter is apparently hiring top engineers \u201cthat maybe we couldn\u2019t get 3 years ago.\u201d 2017 was also Twitter\u2019s share price low point of $14 compared to $34 today, so it\u2019s not much of an accomplishment that hiring is easier now. Dorsey claims that \u201cEngineering is my main focus. Everything else follows from that.\u201d Yet it\u2019s been years since fail whales were prevalent, and the core concern now is that there\u2019s not enough to do on Twitter, rather than what it does offer doesn\u2019t function well.<\/p>\n

On Jack himself:<\/strong> Dorsey says he should have added more context \u201cabout my intention to spend a few months in Africa this year,\u201d including its growing population that\u2019s still getting online. Yet the \u201cHuge opportunity especially for young people to join Twitter\u201d seemed far from his mind as he focused on how crypto trading was driving adoption of Square\u2019s Cash App.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to reevaluate\u201d the plan to work from Africa \u201cin light of COVID-19 and everything else going on.\u201d That makes coronavirus a nice scapegoat for the decision while the phrase \u201ceverything else\u201d is doing some very heavy lifting in the face of Elliott\u2019s activist investing.<\/p>\n

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Photographer: Cole Burston\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

On fighting harassment:<\/strong> Nothing. The fact that Twitter\u2019s most severe ongoing problem doesn\u2019t even get a mention should clue you in to how many troubles have stacked up in front of Dorsey.<\/p>\n

Running Twitter is a big job. So big it\u2019s seen a slew of leaders ranging from founders like Ev Williams to hired guns like Dick Costolo peel off after mediocre performance. If Dorsey wants to stay CEO, that should be his full-time, work-from-headquarters gig.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just another business. Twitter is a crucial communications utility for the world. Its absence of innovation, failure to defend vulnerable users and an inability to deliver financially has massive repercussions for society. It means Twitter hasn\u2019t had the products or kept the users to earn the profits to be able to invest in solving its problems. Making Twitter live up to its potential is no side hustle.<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/RjQRKR8OZHs\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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