New Twitter CEO must be tech-savvy, says Saudi investor

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal indicated Jack Dorsey, who is standing in as chief executive after Dick Costolo quit last week, does not have enough time to focus on Twitter because of his other company, Square.

Mr Costolo’s departure came amid pressure from shareholders over the site’s user numbers, which are far behind its rival Facebook, and months after he admitted Twitter “sucks” at dealing with abusive behaviour and content.

Mr Dorsey is a co-founder of Twitter.

Prince Alwaleed, who invested $300m in Twitter in 2011 and says he now owns almost 5 per cent of the site, told the Financial Times: “Jack has another company called Square, which requires a lot of attention and a full-time job round there.

“I believe and trust that Jack Dorsey is there on a temporary basis.

“The new leader has to have a tech-savviness, an investor-oriented process and a marketing mentality.”

Twitter has around 300 million users globally while Facebook has 1.3 billion active users. The number signing up to Twitter in the last year has been slower than hoped, reportedly leading some investors to call for a change.

In a statement announcing his departure Mr Costolo said: “There is no one better than Jack Dorsey to lead Twitter during this transition.”

There have been reports suggesting Twitter could be the subject of a buyout, with Google linked with a move for the social network in April.