Well, the speculation was fun while it lasted, but despite as much as many would like to see Jack Dorsey ride in and save the day at Twitter, including at least one major Twitter investor, it looks like that simply is not going to be the case.
Dorsey issued a statement to ReCode on Tuesday, making it clear what his intentions are going forward, which means staying on in his current role at Square.
“As I said last week, I’m as committed as ever to Square and its continued success,” he said. “I’m Square CEO and that won’t change.”
This was a reaffirmation of a statement made by Dorsey last week, in which he said pretty much the exact same thing.
“I am grateful for the talented team at Square, which I will continue to lead,” Dorsey said in a press release “We have built a very strong company from top to bottom, and I am as committed as ever to its continued success.”
This new statement came on the same say that outgoing Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said at the Bloomberg Tech conference on Tuesday that the company “is legitimately doing a search” to find someone to replace him. Twitter’s Board immediately formed a Search Committee to find permanent CEO, which is being chaired by the Board’s Lead Independent Director, Peter Currie, and includes Peter Fenton and Evan Williams.
Now, Dorsey didn’t ever actually say that he wouldn’t be the CEO of Twitter, just that he was still going to continue to lead Square. Some will likely take that as an indication that he may pull an Elon Musk, who is currently the CEO of two major tech companies: SpaceX and Tesla. But, let’s be realistic, there is an extremely small chance of that happening.
There are two good reasons that I can think of why Dorsey would choose Square over Twitter.
First, there is a major opportunity ahead for Square. The company, which closed a $150 million funding around at a $6 billion valuation this past October, has been talked about as a potential candidate for a public offering for years.
The company was said to entertaining the thought of an IPO in 2014. The rumors were making their rounds—supposedly of talks with banks, like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. And Square hired former Salesforce.com exec Sarah Friar as its new CFO last year.
Dorsey, however, scuttled those plans in February of last year due to problems with revenue. Namely, the company is not profitable.
That may not be as much of an issue going forward, especially with the company’s current valuation, and I imagine that Dorsey would like to do what he was not able to at Twitter: see his company through to the other side.
On the flipside of that, there is Twitter, a company that has already done its IPO and is now under the harsh glare of the public eye. Dorsey has been getting heat for months for the direction the company was going, in terms of both users and advertising revenue, and whoever does take his job will immediately be under the same microscope. I can’t imagine that anyone would give up a job they love for that.
It’s far more likely that the company will hire in-house, with both Adam Bain, Twitter’s president of global revenue and partnerships, Anthony Noto, who is Twitter’s finance chief, more likely candidates for the job than Dorsey.
(Image source: fastcompany.com)
