Twitter has signed an agreement with activist investor Elliott Management, in which Jack Dorsey retains his post as CEO. This announcement represents a major victory for Bitcoin and the crypto community.
Dorsey to remain CEO despite boardroom reshuffle
Jesse Cohn, head of American activism at Elliott, will immediately join the Twitter board of directors, alongside Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban. A third independent director will be appointed later.
The board, along with its new members, will also form a committee to assess a succession plan with Dorsey and make recommendations on corporate governance. A potential change in the views of the new committee is the removal of its staggered board of directors, and it plans to share its findings by the end of the year.
Investment company Silver Lake will also invest $ 1 billion in the social media company under the terms of the agreement. Twitter plans to use the money to finance its very first share buyback, set at $ 2 billion.
Dorsey: overloaded or coping well?
As Bitcoinist reported last week, Elliott Management took a major stake in Twitter and proposed four board candidates in a push for change, including the potential replacement of Jack Dorsey as CEO.
Elliott founder Paul Singer is said to have been concerned that Dorsey is dividing his focus between his roles as CEO of two publicly traded companies, Twitter and Square, as well as his plans to spend up to six months a year in Africa, which he has since said he will reassess.
As part of today’s agreement, Elliott Management and Silver Lake signed a standstill agreement, putting an end to any further pressure to withdraw Dorsey.
Patrick Pichette, lead independent director of the Twitter board of directors, said the temporary board committee will be created to build on the board’s usual ongoing assessment of its management structure, although ‘be confident that we are on the right track with Jack’s leadership.
As a board of directors, we regularly review and evaluate how Twitter works, and while our CEO structure is unique, Jack is just as unique as this company.
Dorsey is good for Bitcoin
Jack Dorsey was a big defender of Bitcoin and one of its most visible champions. Through its implementation in the Square’s Cash app, it has created one of the simplest ways to buy and keep Bitcoin.
Twitter is also funding a team of developers who work solely on the advancement of the Bitcoin ecosystem. If Dorsey were to be removed as CEO of Twitter, the ramifications could lead to slower or reduced adoption of Bitcoin.
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