Twitter co-founder 'Biz' Stone to rejoin company
17 May 2017
Twitter co-founder Christopher Isaac 'Biz' Stone yesterday said that he was rejoining the company six years after he left, becoming the second co-founder to return to help revive the struggling social-media service.
Stone said in a post on Medium, an online publishing platform developed by another Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, that he was not replacing any executive or filling a vacancy but that in his new role he will be focused on company culture.
Stone returns at the invitation of Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, who returned in 2015 after being away for years.
''It's important that everyone understands the whole story of Twitter and each of our roles in that story,'' Bloomberg reported quoting Stone. ''I'll shape the experience internally so it's also felt outside the company.'' Stone quit Twitter in 2011.
According to commentators, Stone's presence could help boost morale at Twitter following years of management turmoil and several rounds of job cuts. The San Francisco-based company had been struggling to reverse a slowdown in revenue growth and jump-start stagnant user numbers. In September, it had also considered selling itself.
"My top focus will be to guide the company culture, that energy, that feeling," Stone wrote, adding, "You might even say the job description includes being Biz Stone."
According to commentators, Stone was returning to a very different Twitter from the one he left. The micro-blogging network had seen several top staffers leave amid the loss of a key NFL streaming deal.
After chief operating officer Adam Bain left last year, Anthony Noto took charge of the company's finances and operations.
With CEO Jack Dorsey also running Square, top shareholders say his focus was split. Also Twitter had to yet formally announce a replacement for former chief technology officer Adam Messinger or product gurus Noah Pepper and Jinen Kamdar.
While Twitter's influence has grown alongside that of active user Donald Trump, it has failed to make a significant impact on the revenues of dominant advertising platforms like Facebook and Google.