Dorsey’s roles ‘not ideal’

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. File picture: Mary Altaffer

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. File picture: Mary Altaffer

Published Oct 8, 2015

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San Fransisco - In his first interview since helping appoint the “permanent CEO” of Twitter, Evan Williams says that it's “not ideal” that their pick, his fellow co-founder Jack Dorsey, has two jobs.

“I think Jack wouldn't recommend it either,” Williams says in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “No one would say it's ideal to have anyone's time split. But it didn't change the fact that we still thought that, despite that, he was the best choice.”

Williams, a one-time Twitter chief executive officer and current board member, says the decision eventually became an easy one, despite Dorsey staying on as CEO of the payments company Square, which is planning an initial public offering.

“From the beginning, we knew Jack was capable and had a unique perspective on company. We wanted to see what our options were, and that was our job as a board - to look far and wide. The combination of what Jack brings to the table and what he had already done in the last three or four months convinced us he was the best person for the job.”

Speaking with Bloomberg from Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Williams says of his and Dorsey's sometimes strained relationship: “It's better than it's been in years. We have come together through this process. I've joked that Twitter is our mutual child. We have come together, and we hold its future as its highest priority. We see eye to eye on most things as it comes to the future of Twitter.”

Williams, who runs the blogging startup Medium, says he is not ready to talk about the search for an outside chairman of Twitter's board of directors.

Dorsey will play a big role in finding the chairman, Williams says, because the CEO and chairman must work well together. “Twitter is just getting started in terms of potential, and I think Jack can unlock it, and I think the team will unlock it.”

BLOOMBERG

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