Twitter CEO Dick Costolo to Step Down

Vindu Goel, reporting for the NYT:

Dick Costolo, Twitter’s embattled chief executive, is stepping down, the company said Thursday.

Jack Dorsey, the company’s co-founder and chairman, will serve as interim chief executive while the board searches for a permanent successor.

The change is effective July 1. Twitter shares were up more than 7 percent in after-hours trading immediately after the news was announced.

Rightly or wrongly, the writing has been on the wall: Wall Street wanted Costolo out. But I think what Wall Street wants is a pipe dream: for Twitter to turn into another Facebook. No CEO is going to make that happen. Maybe someone else will do better, but I think Costolo started with a hand dealt from a stacked deck.

My biggest fear: Twitter brings in a new CEO with a plan that pleases Wall Street but ruins Twitter as we know it.

My biggest hope: the new CEO resuscitates Twitter’s neutered, stagnant developer platform.

★ Thursday, 11 June 2015