Twitter shares rose following reports an activist investor took a stake in the social media service and plans to push for changes.
Elliott Management Corp has taken a $1 billion stake in the company and plans to nominate four directors to the board, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal reported the plans, also citing an unnamed person. Elliott could be seeking to replace founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, according to the Journal report.
Twitter has lagged behind other tech powerhouses like Facebook and Google in terms of user growth and advertising revenue. Dorsey left the company to start payments company Square, but returned in 2015. Now he splits his time between Square and Twitter. Dorsey has also tweeted that he would spend three to six months in Africa this year, leading some to question who would be running Twitter.
In February the company reported fourth-quarter user numbers that exceeded expectations, but profit still fell as expenses rose. Twitter and other social media companies have been spending more to step up efforts to remove misinformation, abuse, hate speech and spam.
Twitter and Elliott Management declined to comment.
