Twitter In Peace Deal With Activist Investor Elliott Management: Jack Dorsey To Stay CEO, Silver Lake Invests $1B

Twitter said Monday it has entered into a cooperation agreement with Elliott Management, an activist investment firm that had been pressing for changes including the possible ouster of CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey will keep his job and Twitter today announced that investment firm Silver Lake, will make a $1 billion investment in the social media platform.

Elliott owns approximately 4% percent of Twitter’s common stock.

Twitter expects to use Silver Lake’s investment, together with cash on hand, to fund a $2 billion share repurchase program that will be executed over time.

In connection with the investment and the agreement, Egon Durban, co-CEO and managing partner of Silver Lake, and Jesse Cohn, partner at Elliott, will be appointed to the Twitter Board of Directors. In addition, the Twitter Board will continue the process of identifying a third new independent director, focusing on candidates that reflect the diversity of the Twitter service and also possess deep technology and AI expertise.

Patrick Pichette, lead independent director of the Twitter Board, said, “Twitter has undergone remarkable change over the last several years. We are deeply proud of our accomplishments and confident we are on the right path with Jack’s leadership and the executive team. As a Board, we regularly review and evaluate how Twitter is run, and while our CEO structure is unique, so is Jack and so is this Company. To continue to ensure strong governance, we are pleased to create a temporary Board committee that will build on our regular evaluation of Twitter’s leadership structure. This committee, which I will chair, will provide a fresh look at our various structures, and report the findings to our Board on an ongoing basis. In an environment where certainty is scarce, I can say with certainty that today we have taken steps to meaningfully strengthen what is already a world-class Board.”