Threatened To Be Ousted As Twitter CEO, Dorsey Counts Achievements, Defends Africa Move

Twitter Inc. TWTR chief executive officer Jack Dorsey on Thursday defended his record at the helm of the social media company.

Defends Twitter's Performance

Speaking at an event organized by Morgan Stanley MS, Dorsey defended the performance of Twitter over the recent years.
"5 years ago we had to do a really hard reset and that takes time to build from…we had been a company that was trying to do too many things," Dorsey noted of the time when he retook charge as the CEO. "Focusing on one job and increasing accountability has made a huge difference for us," Dorsey noted the achievement the company has made in terms of applying machine learning in its core product. This helped improve user experience by showing them more relevant content on their timeline and in notifications, according to Dorsey. "Some 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. I'm talking about increased relevance,"

For ad business, as we get more signal around people's interests + ppl converse more, we have a much larger canvas against which to match advertisers. Twitter is the best place to launch something new + connect w/ what's happening - that message resonates deeply w/ advertisers.

— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) March 5, 2020

Dorsey's comments come at a time when activist investor Elliott Management Corp. has reportedly acquired a significant stake in Twitter and is pushing for changes, including replacing Dorsey with a full-time CEO. The 43-year old billionaire also heads payment services company Square Inc. SQ.

Explains Move To Africa

Elliott has reportedly also objected to Dorsey's comments about considering a move to Africa. The Twitter CEO now defended his comments, saying it wouldn't undermine his commitment to the company.

When I tweeted about my intention to spend a few months in Africa this year, I made a mistake and should have provided more context about why.

— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) March 5, 2020

"Africa will be one of the most populated continents in the next [twenty-thirty years], the tech innovation is incredible [with a] large portion of the population still coming onto the internet," Dorsey said. "Huge opportunity especially for young people to join Twitter [plus] for us to learn to best serve them." Dorsey said he is reevaluating his planned move to Africa anyway due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Price Action

Twitter's shares closed 2.86% lower at $34.97 on Thursday and were mostly unchanged in the after-hours.

Photo Credit: Jack Dorsey Instagram