Twitter CEO shares 1/3 of own shares with stuff

PanARMENIAN.Net - Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and chief executive, is giving away a third of his Twitter stock — worth about $213m — to an equity pool owned by employees, the Financial Times reports.

Dorsey announced the news on Twitter, as well as at the company's 'Teatime' town hall event. The move gives employees 1 per cent of the company and will "reinvest directly in our people." He added: “As for me: I'd rather have a smaller part of something big than a bigger part of something small. I'm confident we can make Twitter big!”

The shares will go into the pool from which staff are rewarded with stock depending on performance and promotions. If it was distributed evenly, it would work out to almost $50,000 worth of stock for each staff member.

Dorsey was installed as Twitter's permanent chief executive for a second time just two weeks ago. He recently cut more than 300 jobs, or 8 per cent of the workforce, and pledged to employees to "give it to you straight" as he works to streamline operations.

The San Francisco-based company's market value is now 45 per cent since a recent peak in April, though since Mr Dorsey retook the helm it's improved by 11 per cent to $29.15 a share.

Dorsey is the eighth largest owner of the company, with a 3.2 per cent stake worth $637m. A third of that would be about $213.5m.