In March 2020, Elliott Management struck a deal with Silver Lake, one of Silicon Valley’s biggest investors in technology companies, that allowed Mr. Dorsey to remain at Twitter. The deal also gave Jesse Cohn, the Elliott executive who oversaw the Twitter campaign, a seat on Twitter’s board. Mr. Cohn joined a five-member committee that led a review of Twitter’s C.E.O. succession planning.
Last November, that committee completed its review, saying that it had “updated the C.E.O. succession plan in line with best practices,” according to a regulatory filing, laying a path for the transition. Twitter’s stock began to climb, and in February, Mr. Dorsey announced an ambitious plan to double Twitter’s revenue by the end of 2023. The company also sped up its product pace, releasing new features like audio chat, newsletters, tipping and other updates.
Elliott’s Mr. Cohn stepped down from Twitter’s board in June.
“Our collaboration with Jack and the company for the past two years has been productive and effective,” Mr. Cohn and Elliot Management senior portfolio manager Marc Steinberg said in a joint statement. They also praised Mr. Agrawal and incoming board chairman Bret Taylor, saying: “We are confident that they are the right leaders for Twitter at this pivotal moment for the company.”
But some of Twitter’s stock market gains have slipped away in recent months, with the stock now worth roughly the same as it was a year ago. In the third quarter, Twitter said its revenue grew 37 percent from a year ago, to $1.28 billion, but it incurred a loss of $537 million.
Legislators have demanded that Twitter do more to address misinformation and hate speech on the platform, while others have accused Mr. Dorsey of censorship and argued that Twitter should allow more content to remain online.
The moderation issues have been a persistent irritation for Mr. Dorsey. He had envisioned Twitter as a platform for free speech and bristled at the idea of removing content, especially from world leaders and other newsworthy figures.
Mr. Trump’s incendiary tweets tested Mr. Dorsey’s stance. Twitter at first compromised by labeling some of Mr. Trump’s tweets as misinformation, before finally removing his account.
