Twitter Names Ex Google CFO Pichette as Chair, Kordestani to Stay On

Pichette, who had been Twitter's lead independent director since the end of 2018, will replace Omid Kordestani.

Twitter Names Ex Google CFO Pichette as Chair, Kordestani to Stay On
Highlights
  • Investors have been pushing for outsiders to preside over boards
  • Patrick Pichette had been Twitter's lead independent director since 2018
  • He will replace Omid Kordestani in leading the directors as chairman
Advertisement

Twitter on Tuesday appointed Patrick Pichette, a former chief financial officer at Google, as the social network's board chairman, marking the first time in Twitter's history that an outsider will preside over the group.

Pichette, who had been Twitter's lead independent director since the end of 2018, will replace Omid Kordestani in leading the directors as chairman. Kordestani supervised the board and had more day to day involvement with the company as executive chairman for nearly five years.

Kordestani will stay on as a director, serving on the 11-member board alongside three new directors.

The move comes three months after Elliott Management, the $40 billion (roughly ₹ 3 lakh crores) hedge fund, had sought to oust CEO Jack Dorsey, pushed for improved corporate governance and wanted to see a higher share price. The two sides reached an agreement in early March that let Dorsey stay, for now, and handed board seats to Elliott among others.

Investors have been increasingly pushing for outsiders to preside over boards.

Pichette is expected to bring greater scrutiny of management and a stronger focus on financial matters to the company. Twitter's stock price closed at $32.26 (roughly ₹ 2,400) on Tuesday, down 12.5 percent in the last 52 weeks.

Jesse Cohn, who lad Elliott's campaign, Egon Durban, Silver Lake's co-chief executive, and artificial intelligence expert Fei-Fei Lei joined the board as part of the deal.

Social media platforms have been under intense scrutiny lately over how they police the spread of false information, and Twitter and Dorsey made headlines by taking on US President Donald Trump, Twitter's most famous user.

Trump, who accuses social media firms of bias against conservatives, without evidence, stepped up attacks on Twitter after it put fact-checking labels on Trump tweets.

Trump signed an executive order threatening Silicon Valley social media firms with new free speech regulations.

© Thomson Reuters 2020


Is Realme TV the best TV under ₹ 15,000 in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Twitter, Twitter Board
Google’s New Android TV Dongle Revealed in New Report
Facebook Takes Down White Nationalist and Fake Antifa Accounts
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »