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Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey appointed permanent CEO

CTV News reports that 38-year-old Dorsey beat other key figures including 42-year-old chief revenue officer Adam Bain to the job. The posting was revealed in a regulatory filing today, giving Dorsey control of the company he helped to create and making Bain chief operating officer. Shares rose 2.9 percent as news broke during pre-market trading.
CNN Money reports that Twitter director Peter Currie, leader of the committee in charge of finding a new CEO, said Dorsey was “not just meeting but surpassing expectations” in his role as interim CEO. His appointment seems to contradict a previous statement from the board which said only a person “in a position to make a full-time commitment to Twitter” would be considered for the job.
Dorsey is now CEO of two companies as he is continuing his role at another firm he co-founded, alongside his new position at Twitter. Mobile payments provider Square Inc., founded in 2009, is currently preparing for an initial public offering under Dorsey’s leadership and is located less than a block away from Twitter’s headquarters.
The Financial Times reports Dorsey said he will do “whatever it takes” to turn Twitter around while still effectively managing Square. Twitter’s board has not divulged how Dorsey intends to meet demands from both companies and at least one major Twitter shareholder has already expressed concerns, saying “this is hubris, and a really big red flag for investors” of Dorsey’s leadership of both firms.
The shareholder added: “Is two a limit, or can you do three? How invincible are you? Ultimately, it has to be for the board of each company but I honestly cannot see how they can make it work unless they are planning to merge the two.”
Investors will be hoping Dorsey can create a plan to turn the declining social network around. Twitter’s stock has been hit by major losses in recent times and is now worth nearly 50 percent less than it was just five months ago. Since its public listing in 2013, Twitter shares have failed to substantially rise above their $26 initial offer price. Rivals like Facebook have more than doubled in value since their own listings.
This has been caused in part by flagging user growth. Twitter now boasts over 300 million accounts but is struggling to gain any more. The company has been seeking to introduce new features to make the platform more attractive and has recently axed the 140-character limit on direct messages.
Recent rumours suggest Dorsey may also be working on a way to post longer tweets to the platform, throwing out the 140 characters that Twitter built its name around. This would create a whole new experience when browsing the site’s extensive network and could allow brands to obtain higher user engagement by posting longer messages.
Dorsey currently owns a 3 percent stake in Twitter, valued at $600 million. He founded the company in 2006 with Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass but was dropped by the firm’s directors in October 2008.

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