Dorsey: Not focused on permanent Twitter role
SAN FRANCISCO — Outgoing chief executive Dick Costolo and his interim successor Jack Dorsey, the two men at the center of the dramatic leadership change at Twitter, spoke with Paste BN on Thursday.
Costolo will remain on Twitter's board. Dorsey, chairman of the board and one of the company's co-founders, will take over the reins July 1.
Dorsey has his work cut out for him with Wall Street confidence in Twitter at an all-time low as the company struggles to attract new users, create new products and make more money from advertising.
With his deep connections to Twitter, Dorsey has never made a secret of his desire to regain a greater role in the company. Dorsey was ousted as CEO and replaced by Evan Williams in 2008. He returned as executive chairman in 2011.
This is a condensed version of comments from Dorsey and Costolo edited for clarity.
On what will it take to fix Twitter
Dorsey: My focus and the reason I am so excited about stepping into the role as interim CEO is that I do believe we have what we need in our strategy and our direction and most importantly in our team and leadership to continue that momentum around new products and initiatives and facilitate a smooth transition as the board conducts the search for a new CEO.
On Twitter recruiting Dorsey as interim CEO
Dorsey: We had a conversation as a board, and we felt that this was the right path to go down because it does allow us to put a huge stake in the ground around the strength of our strategy and the direction of our team.
On how long the search for a permanent CEO will take
Dorsey: The search committee led by Peter Fenton, Peter Currie and Evan Williams will take the necessary time to find the best permanent CEO for Twitter. We are willing to spend that time.
On whether Dorsey would consider permanent CEO job
Dorsey: That is not something I am thinking about at all. I have enough to focus on right now. I want to make sure that Twitter continues to perform and Square continues to perform and continue along both of their momentum that they have demonstrated for some time now.
On whether Twitter's future CEO is a current Twitter executive
Costolo: The board committee for the search has just been put together. They are going to look at internal and external candidates. It is going to be a very thorough process, and we are giving them the time and the space to do that.
On how Dorsey will balance being CEO of two companies
Dorsey: The only thing that enables me to do this with confidence and that gives confidence to both the boards of Twitter and Square is the strengths of the teams at both companies and the strengths of the strategy and direction at both companies.
On why Costolo decided to step down
Costolo: I started talking to a couple board members at the end of last year, a month after analyst day. We had the strategy we'd like to have, the product road map we'd like to have, and we had a team in place that was the strongest team we have ever had. I said, let's pay attention to that next year. It might be a good time to think about transitions. We had the conversation again in February and last week, and we really felt that this team had come together.
On Costolo's plans for the future
Costolo: No plans. I will continue to serve on the board of directors. I am probably going to be a pretty active member of the board. I am close to a bunch of customers. I am close to a bunch of content partners. I have relationships with developers. And Jack and I will continue to have dinner every Tuesday night and speak for hours about the company.