Brittlerock,
This was one of my concerns going into last year: https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/24/3-concerns-for-squ…
As it turns out, both companies outperformed the market. Dorsey has truly done a remarkable job at both companies this year, I think:
What a difference a year makes…
Last year was one Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) CEO Jack Dorsey would doubtless rather forget. The unpleasantness came to a head in October at the Money 20/20 conference, where Dorsey defended his decision to remain CEO of Square (NYSE:SQ) while taking on the same role at Twitter. Twitter had reportedly unsuccessfully shopped itself to Alphabet and Disney earlier that month, and its shares fell approximately 20% on news of the attempt’s failure. Twitter followed that by announcing plans to cut its workforce by 8%. Overall in 2016, shares of the microblogging site fell 30% while the broader U.S. market rose 12%.
Meanwhile, Square in October 2016 was trading at roughly $11 per share, more than its $9 IPO price but lower than its price during the last private funding round. Square shares fared moderately better than Twitter’s in the full 2016, rising 4%, but still nowhere close to the market average. Analysts blamed Dorsey for both companies’ underperformance, alleging the unusual dual-CEO arrangement spread the young executive too thin to be effective. (Dorsey’s turning 41 in the next week.)
You’re hearing that less often now.
From https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/15/is-jack-dorsey-ceo…
This article on Business Insider explains how Dorsey splits his work day which begins at 5am and ends at 11pm (mornings at Twitter, afternoons at Square): http://www.businessinsider.com/how-jack-dorsey-manages-his-t…
In that article, he talks about how he knows every single detail of Square because he’s been there since the beginning and built it from the ground up:
“Square is something I built from day one and I know every single detail of that system,” he explained at The New York Times DealBook conference last month. “[With] Twitter, I had to learn a few things in my absence. I had to learn why we made decisions and what the principles were and how we might change those or how we might evolve those. Both required very different answers.”
Besides, Square CFO Sarah Friar is sensational. She might be better than Jack.
And more of Dorsey’s personal wealth is tied up in Square then in Twitter, if that makes you feel better.
Anyway, this is something I was very concerned about going into 2017, but not so much any more. YMMV.
Matt
Long SQ
MasterCard (MA), PayPal (PYPL), Skechers (SKX) and Square (SQ) Ticker Guide
See all my holdings at http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCochrane/info.aspx