Twitter names co-founder as new CEO amid turmoil

Twitter Inc. named Jack Dorsey as chief executive officer, betting its cofounder and former leader can revive fortunes at a social-media company that has failed to impress investors since its 2013 initial public offering.

Dorsey, 38, will also keep his job as CEO of mobile-payments company Square Inc., the payments and financial services company he co-founded in 2009, Twitter said in a filing Monday. “My focus is to build teams that move fast, and learn faster,” Dorsey said in a tweet. “In the past 3 months we have increased our speed and urgency at both companies.”

Twitter’s board is turning back to one of the people who started the San Francisco-based company to reignite the sense of urgency and buzz that lured millions of users from the start.

Dorsey helped pioneer the idea that anyone could use short messages of no more than140 characters to share views widely and build followings. Yet in recent years the site has been plagued by management turmoil and a product slowdown while rival sites gained in popularity.

Dorsey has already been deeply involved in operations as interim chief. Still, the pick indicates that the board failed to find a CEO who could be fully dedicated to addressing Twitter’s issues. Dorsey will also rely on newly appointed operating chief Adam Bain, who proved his mettle as the head of sales.

The board initially sought someone who could devote full attention to Twitter, but loosened that requirement, given signs that Dorsey was able to function in both roles effectively, according to director Peter Currie.