Twitter CEO shift fuels takeover theories

By Barry Eitel

SAN FRANCISCO

As Twitter seeks a new chief executive to follow current CEO Dick Costolo, top analysts released reports Friday predicting the microblogging site would soon be acquired and investors welcomed the change.

Costolo announced Thursday afternoon that he would be stepping down from the position July 1 following many months of investors claiming the company was struggling to keep up in terms of user base and revenue.

Chris Sacca, one of Twitter’s top investors, published an 8,000-word open letter last week detailing his worries over the service’s attempts to garner new users.

Earlier this year, Twitter noted the site had 302 million monthly active users, a mere fraction of the 1.39 billion using Facebook and roughly the same amount of image-sharing service Instagram, which is owned by Facebook and passed the 300 million threshold months before Twitter.

Costolo, who took the CEO position in 2010, will be followed by Twitter co-founder and first CEO Jack Dorsey as interim chief executive.

The lack of a permanent CEO is a usual sign of trouble, and some major analysts and tech journalists have suggested the company is seeking acquisition, perhaps by Google.

"Prospective buyers have been interested in purchasing Twitter in the past, and during the interim search period [for a new CEO] we believe the opportunity for acquisition is heightened," analysts at Jefferies wrote in a note to clients Friday.

In a call to shareholders Thursday, Costolo was ambiguous when addressing the issue.

“Obviously we are committed to maximize shareholder value,” he explained. “We see no reason why we can’t do that as an independent company, but the board has a fiduciary duty and will carefully evaluate any offer.”

Following Costolo’s news, shares in Twitter rallied as high as 10 percent in after-hours trading Thursday but drifted down throughout Friday toward the previous day’s close, finishing the week at $35.89.