
Twitter Shareholder Sues CEO and Board Members Over Inflated Share Price - sergiotapia
http://fortune.com/2016/10/26/twitter-shares-lawsuit/
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antiviral
No, it's not just you...I'd say Twitter is a sick little bird right now.

It's one thing to be CEO of two companies that are doing well, with a well-
established strategy and strong teams of A-grade players that are executing
well.

What I don't understand is how Jack Dorsey could believe he could successfully
manage two companies, Square and Twitter, at the same time at such critical
points in their growth. I just shake my head at the unbridled hubris and over-
estimation of one's own abilities that one must have to make this decision.
It's very frustrating, because I believe both companies could be so much
greater at what they do; they've just touched the tip of the iceberg.

It's hard enough to turn around one company successfully. But even if Dorsey
is successful in the end, splitting 50% of your time somewhere else is a
needless way to slim down your odds, kind of like smoking a pack of Marlboros
a day and hoping to make it to 100. It happens, but that doesn't make it a
good idea.

Or to paraphrase from elsewhere: "It could be that the purpose of Dorsey's
career is to serve as a warning for others."

[https://despair.com/products/mistakes](https://despair.com/products/mistakes)

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rpeden
The book _Hatching Twitter_ doesn't speak too highly of Dorsey, his attitude,
and the way he conducts himself.

Having said that, I can't speak to how accurate it is. I don't know him, not
do I know anyone who knows him. Like many books, it probably has its own
angle/spin on the events it describes, even if the author was trying to be
unbiased.

Keeping that in mind, it's still an interesting read. Can anyone suggest other
books, articles, or blog posts that discuss Twitter's history?

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throwaway_birdy
I worked at Twitter during both of his "comebacks." He's a clown.

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serg_chernata
I'm very curious, can you explain in what ways? Examples?

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randycupertino
All you need to do is watch Dorsey's girlfriend's instagram to know what he
prioritizes- fashion shows, parties, scenesters, film festivals, music
festivals, art basel, jet setting, oversharing... with all the shooting stars,
gallery openings, rooftop parties etc he's making appearances at it's doubtful
there's much CEOing of one let alone two companies going on.

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qwrusz
So this lawsuit is really 90% Ev Williams selling some shares in 2015. If I am
not mistaken he didn't work there anymore and had already started Medium.

Also all this was public information at the time. All these insiders would
have filed a notice with the SEC when they sell shares.

Still, Twitter is run quite poorly and lawyers will make a lot of money on
this weak ash lawsuit.

Ironically this lawsuit will likely just lower the stock price even further if
it has any effect at all, which I doubt it will.

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serg_chernata
Is it me or is there an influx of negative news about Twitter as of late?

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hood_syntax
There are a lot of negative things about the current state of Twitter, more
people are realizing that. If you're implying an astro-turfing campaign I'd
have to say that's unlikely.

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pyrophane
I agree. Twitter has had some bad, public things happen to them, which pretty
much guarantees a slew commentators will pile on to prophesize their doom. It
doesn't help that Twitter is a high profile company that was once the symbol
of the great new age of technology companies, and that they have been known
for some time now to be struggling. The narrative just fits together too well
for the media at large to resist.

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rhizome
Eh, the sky has been falling on Twitter ever since Arrington shat on Blaine.

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cmurf
I'm skeptical of a shareholder lawsuit succeeding this way. If the SEC isn't
joining in, any concealment by the CEO or board, even if totally unethical,
isn't illegal. If you're a shareholder and don't like how things are going it
pretty much seems to me your narrow path is selling the stock and finding
something more to your liking - in particular if you don't have enough shares
to affect the make up of the board.

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adrianratnapala
> don't like how things are going it pretty much seems to me your narrow path
> is selling the stock

I don't know the law or the precedents, but it seems concealing info might be
an the exception that proves the rule here. The point being you need non-lying
results if you are going to decide whether to sell the stock.are lying about
results, you can't

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shortsightedsid
Whenever I see twitter's share price mentioned, I think of Damodaran's
valuation of Twitter stock - $18. His academic approach may be more accurate
than hyped up numbers. See
[http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2016/02/management-
matte...](http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2016/02/management-matters-
facebook-and-twitter.html) -

> The best that I can say about Twitter, at the moment, is that at $18/share,
> it is fairly valued, but if the company continues to be run the way it has
> for the last few years, both price and value could move in tandem to zero.

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cloudjacker
because it should be $3 a share at a $2 billion market cap?

oh it is about the ever changing engagement metrics that social media
companies woo dollars with.

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thomasthomas
with all the bots on the platform, how can they accurately report any user
number (mau dau)?

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sctb
We've updated the link from [http://vesselnews.io/twitter-shareholder-sues-
twitter-ceo-ja...](http://vesselnews.io/twitter-shareholder-sues-twitter-ceo-
jack-dorsey-inflated-share-price/), which points to this.

