Twitter Stock: Is Jack Dorsey the Right Person for the Job?
TWTR Stock Hammered Again
The bad news for Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) continues unabated. If the news is not about the issues surrounding the product, it is about the management team that can’t seem to decide how to improve the matters at hand.
Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer Adam Messinger posted a tweet announcing his decision to leave the company. He said he wanted to take some time off after spending five years with the company.
Messinger’s departure is another high-level exit after the company’s Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain left last month. Bain was instrumental in building up Twitter’s advertising business. He was replaced by Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto. Twitter stock has been at the receiving end of this management shuffling from time to time.
With his departure, Messinger’s responsibilities now move to CEO Jack Dorsey, who is also the CEO of Square Inc (NYSE:SQ). Twitter’s heads of product, design, and engineering will report directly to Jack Dorsey.
VP of Engineering Edward Ho will take over Messinger’s engineering duties. Jack Dorsey said, “I’ll be working even closer with our engineering and design teams to ensure we continue to be the fastest and best service to show what’s happening in the world.” (Source: “Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer to Leave Company,” The New York Times, December 20, 2016).
TWTR stock has lost 22% over the last year. The company grabbed headlines earlier over the potential acquisition interest by salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM), but salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff finally decided against it, which sent Twitter stock plunging.
Along with Messinger, Josh McFarland, Twitter’s vice president of product, is also leaving the company, and will join Greylock Partners.
The exodus of top executives makes matters worse at Twitter. The social media platform is already struggling with myriad problems. There were restructuring plans announced earlier, but it looks like the company is facing a long road on the way to growth and profitability.
This constant shuffling of executives does not bode well for the morale of the employees. As Twitter appears to be working hard to rebuild itself into a more attractive entity, these developments could keep the best talent away from the company.
Should Jack Dorsey Continue as CEO?
Jack Dorsey joined Twitter last year, and the company is still struggling with the same problems as before. He has made efforts to build Twitter into a platform for broadcasting live events. There are other changes as well, but nothing seems to be working to improve confidence in the Twitter story.
Is It Time for the Company to Replace the Chief Executive Officer?
At this stage, it does not look like changing the CEO would make any difference to the fortunes of the company. Twitter will just have to face this rough patch and continue improving its ad targeting and video strategy. But TWTR stock may fall further, which could trigger buying interest again.
Twitter stock fell about 1.8% on Tuesday and closed at $17.92. The weakness is likely to continue, as no good news seems to be coming out of the company headquarters right now.
