Twitter Appoints Board Members From Elliott, New Investor Silver Lake

Twitter has appointed two new board members, one from activist shareholder Elliott Management, and the other from new investor Silver Lake. The company also announced the formation of a special committee to look into its leadership structure and CEO succession plan, plus a new share buyback programme worth USD 2 billion, helped by money from Silver Lake.

CEO Jack Dorsey welcomed the new board members, and said he looks forward to “their positive contributions as we continue to build a service that delivers for customers, and drives value for stakeholders.”

Under the deals, Silver Lake has agreed to buy USD 1 billion worth of Twitter shares. Money raised will be used to fund the new share repurchase programme. Also, Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban will be appointed to Twitter’s board of directors, as will Jesse Cohn, a partner at Elliott. A third new independent director, preferably versed in tech and AI, will also get added in the future, to “reflect the diversity of the Twitter service.”

Special committee to eliminate staggered board

The special committee will make recommendations, with in mind, the elimination of the company’s staggered board. It will be made up of five members, namely Durban and Cohn, as well as existing board member Patrick Pichette. Evaluation results will be shared to the public by year-end.

Related to these deals, Twitter has reinforced its commitment to impartiality in the development and enforcement of its policies and rules. Therefore, Elliott and Silver Lake have agreed to not comment on or influence, directly or indirectly, any Twitter policies, rules or decisions related to the Twitter platform. Elliott and Silver Lake said they are committed to the importance of maintaining the independence and impartiality of the Twitter platform and its rules and enforcement.

Twitter aiming for mDAU growth of 20% this year and beyond

Twitter also shared its ambitions, saying it wants to grow mDAU (monetisable daily active users) by 20 percent this year and beyond, to accelerate revenue growth on a year-over-year basis and increase its share of the digital advertising market. The company said it will provide more details on these ambitions in the fall.

―Telecompaper