emily: dick costolo steps down as twitter ceo. jack dorsey takes purpose interim ceo. we have much more ahead. this is a special "bloomberg west" from san francisco. ♪ emily: breaking news -- a big shakeup at twitter. just in the last hour, dick costolo is stepping down as ceo. jack dorsey stepping in as interim ceo. the stock surging on this news. investors have been calling for costolo to step down for quite

some time. we have sarah, who covers twitter. also an early twitter investor. also jim moore, the former cfo of yahoo!. we are still digesting this news. but george, what is your reaction? george: oh my god. emily: oh my god rightis right. you were in the company that evan founded. george: noah founded it and evan become the ceo. jack then became the ceo. then evan reluctantly became the ceo. it has been profiled in a couple books. this is a company of rotating ceos. i am not surprised,, they stumble the exits -- based on all of the exits of others before. based on the people who have

exited, there was no other choice to go about to find the new ceo. sarah: i think what we should not be surprised by is the founder. the founder has increasingly had to get involved with twitter over the past year. the founders, evan and jack have been to what is called tee time into the twitter's offices. listen to, we believe -- listen to him, we believe in vision. they have been trying to instill this in dick. but still the questions keep coming. they have actually been talking to recruits and saying no, it's ok, it is safe to come work for twitter. maybe they thought they should handle it on their own. they say this is dick's decision. my question is -- is it dick's

decision to bring in a someone interim? emily: i spoke with dig costello -- dick costolo on a studio 1 -- on studio 1.0. let us hear what he has to say about being a leader. dick: we have a distance between awareness and engagement on twitter. that causes people to say, well i don't get why i would use it, so i don't get what it is for. i deeply feel that the platform is the very best weight 2 -- the very best way to connect in real-time to what is happening to the world. emily: twitter is the best way to connect to your world. dick: live, in the moment, this amazing thing i am watching right now. live broadcasting, like a video -- -- live video, i think that is going to be the future of the platform.

emily: looking at twitter from the outside. someone from yahoo!, what is your take on this? >> it is interesting that i happen to be here today -- total quintess. when you -- total coincidence. when you talk about a rotating ceos. we had five ceos in the space of a year. these kinds of transitions take everybody by surprise. there can be public comments leading up to this that are completely contradictory to what ends up happening. there are really tricky things on the inside, but the really important part is that now communication can start. you were just talking about it. you have to reassure investors and employees most of all. emily: it is a fixed decision why make an interim person? why not go out and find the body? -- find somebody? emily: is it really his decision? dtim: you try to announce

something definitive at the same time someone is leading, but i don't know. emily: keep in mind that jack dorsey is running another multibillion-dollar company called square. he is a very busy job. he is a chairman on the board. but they don't say, george, what they are doing in terms of the looking for a new ceo. what do you make of that? george: they're going to have to declare that. to me the fact that they are not saying says that they are considering jack is a ceo or someone else in the company that they do not want to name. for they are not willing to name who the search provider is right now. emily: qqq think the new ceo of twitter -- who do you think the new ceo of twitter should be? george: you should have a founders that carried the spirit of the company. once you lose the founders, you lose the backbone of the company. emily: there has been a clear divide between evan williams

the vision of the future of put them -- future of twitter, and jack dorsey. george: sure, and some of the original founders who were not in the company after it became twitter. emily: so is a founder really the right person, one of the 3 or 4 depending on how you think of it? george: i think about it would be great, because they have that spiritual leadership. -- tim: but someone has to step up. emily: someone tells me alibaba wanteds it too. george: you can sell it to someone, but the question is how to integrate it. i think google is useless in terms of consumer products. they would have to keep it as a completely separate business. i don't think they are going to improve twitter on their own. emily: i want to take a listen

to another comment from dick costolo talking about the insane pressure that he is under as a ceo. dick: anyone at that tells you a ceo of any private or public committee -- public company, i don't worry about job security. the board and i are totally aligned. you have an entire company of people who are looking for you to leave them, and he wants to be successful. -- for you to lead them, and they want you to be successful. you have to show them that your efforts are coming off, so that is where the pressure comes from. emily: what do you make of his comments there? being in that position of under pressure?

tim: you get it from all angles. if there is a guide -- if there is a divide amongst founders and the management teams, there could be different factions were voting in one direction -- who are voting in one direction or the other. you have the investor angle, which is very powerful. they haven't so many different forms -- they have so many different forms. it is like a bombardment. emily: you think twitter can get beyond the factions can get beyond the drama, past the turnover? george: i think dick is right, that rate companies are led by someone who is a visionary. -- that great companies are led by someone who is a visionary. why am i sitting here with a depressed stock price if i don't care about some great products? uniting these "factions" is

about saying, we're going to this great place, and we are coming along. and if they don't cure that, they start -- if they don't hear that, they start exiting. i think that is where twitter is at. emily: we will continue this conversation after a quick break. talking about this medic shakeup at twitter. erin levy will also be coming up later on the show. ♪

emily: will come back to "bloomberg west"." we are continuing our breaking news coverage of the big shakeup at twitter. in the last hour, dick costolo

stepping down as ceo. jack dorsey stepping in as interim ceo. stock surging. still with us george zachary, in early investor. we also have everybody -- erin levy and two more. erin, i want to start with you. -- erin levy and tim moore. you always have a and humorous things to say about the industry. what do you think? erin: i should clarify for everybody wanting -- everybody watching, i came to talk about our earnings. -- aaron: what i wouldn't say is that -- what i would say is that clearly dick and jack came to a decision on what they wanted to do. this is more of a story on how wall street thinks about high-growth technology companies rather than twitter's potential.

i don't know more than that to comment. emily: as a twitter user, do you feel that is a service, twitter is living up to its potential? aaron: i don't think any service is living up to its potential. i think there is always room or building new capabilities, new acquisitions, opening new parts of your platform. i thought some of the things in chris's notes. i agreed with most of them something didn't resonate. i think that happens with every product. until we a college all of our goals, then we are not living up to our own potential. -- until we accomplish all of our goals. i am happy with twitter as a service. emily: we taped this interview before it happened. but take a listen to what chris sacca this guy wrote a 185 word

a minute missive about what twitter needs to do. chris: it was a really well received post that i think, if done right, sets them up for success. it points wall street in the direction of how you should be evaluating the company. you should not be out headhunting the ceo. you should be focusing on these things. emily: one of the things that sacca was very clear on is that he wants twitter to be easier to use. one billion people have, to twitter and they have not stuck around. -- one billion people have come to twitter and they have not stuck around. george: i think he has a valid point. emily: he wants to focus more on live video, to make it easier to see the nba tweets from players during the game. george: i definitely agree with almost everything that chris

wrote. there has been experiencing around periscope, which i think is cool. but the core experience is limited and has not gotten significantly atbetter. there has been a constant rotation of product, which has told me there was not a good vision around the product. tim: you turn management around that way you will not get progress on anyone roadmap. emily: we talked about facebook, alibaba -- do you think any of these committees would -- any of these companies would be possible for a deal? tim: i view facebook as a publishing company. they continuously by new channels. -- buy new channels. instagram and whatsapp are both new channels.

taking move users across these different channels, capture than in a different demographics across different mental states across different ages. to me, that would make the most sense. emily: aaron as a twitter user and with the full understanding that you can here to talk about earnings, but about someone who is thoughtful about the industry, what do you think about a company like facebook or google biting twitter? is that something you would like to see is a user? -- google buying twitter? aaron: i would say if you or anyone of those companies, you would want twitter. if you work twitter, there would be -- if you were twitter, there would be too much potential to stay on your. -- sattay on your own. emily: we will have that conversation about box another time. i appreciate you joining with us. i have a top rated analyst on

the phone with us. he covers companies for media. give us a wall street view, obviously the stocks are looking good. anthony: as part of the announcement, the company reaffirmed therefore your guidance. -- therir full-year guidance. i think there are a number of investors, like the previous colors, who think -- previous callers, who think twitter can make it more engaging to rejuvenate growth in users, to amp optimization and accelerate it. there is a view that there is a a time for a fresh change in leadership. we will see what they say on their stock call. going back to the early days if any one of your listeners has read "hatching twitter,"

you can take away from that book that you have a history of change in terms of leadership. by contrast that with something like facebook, which admittedly is conversely -- which admittedly is controlled closely by mark. but they have a strong clarified vision for the company. it remains to be seen whether or not these management changes will have a more detrimental impact on twitter overtime than a positive one. emily: i have read every word of that book, "hatching ittwitter." george zachary was quoted in a book. and it reads like a tele-novella because there is so much,. was it a soap opera? -- there willis so much drama. george: there is always

volatility in the company and between the players in the company. but i don't see the maliciousness that nick describes in the players. emily: you don't think jack dorsey was always gunning back to become the ceo? george: i think there was always the desire, but not the evilness that nick pointed out. there was probably passive aggressive behavior, but also a one to people who did not -- a bunch of people who did not communicate well together. they used an indirect method which, by the way is also twitter. they created a product which is identical to their own method of comedic asian, which is in direct. -- their own method of communication, which is in direct. emily: how difficult will it be to change the culture from the inside out? tim: it is intimately difficult

whether you choose an internal or external candidate. you just need to keep at it. but you need to have something to say as well. they need to first decide what they are doing and what they want to be, and then the messaging can glflow. changing any culture is tough in such a high profile fishbowl as twitter is. multiply it times 100 or 1000. emily: tim morse, a guy who is been in jack's position. we will continue this conversation after a quick break. we are talking about a dramatic shakeup at twitter. dick costolo, the ceo, is out. ♪

emily: we're back to our breaking news. dick costolo stepping down as

ceo twitter. jack dorsey stepping in as interim ceo. we have an early investor twitter, and also a former yahoo! cfo, and adjoining lascivious type -- and when this kjjoining us via skype. who can be the new ceo of twitter? who do you think can do this job better than dick costolo, considering jack dorsey as well? >> i don't have an individual yet in mind but i do think when you start looking at what you want to do to replace this job, i think it needs to be someone that comes from media. i think the media business has learned a tremendous amount about ease-of-use, engaging users, and i think that is a big

angle about what twitter needs to come push. i think that as media has evolved, that is where they are going to look. when you start seeing the next chapter for the company. i think there are a lot of folks out there that they could be talking to. the reality is that not necessarily from a third platform tech company. it needs someone that understands just as much media as they do tech. emily: i have heard people within the company thrown out. george: i don't think it will be someone from in the company, someone from the facebook who knows how to grow. emily: do you see anyone in particular? george: if i would guess, probably not someone from traditional media. it is not a traditional media product. my guess is that someone coming from the product side of facebook, who basically sees facebook is a limited platform but limited in its focus on person to practice -- person

to person groups where people know each other. emily: i will just keep the names a you. -- i will just keep throwing names at you. >> there are a lot of people who keep emerging on the lists. tim: people who are assumed to be well entrenched in their companies or are off the radar, who may be great candidates. emily: ultimately, will be jack dorsey? >> it could be, but it jack needs to save square. there are some people who needed to run two companies at the same time. emily: running one company is a difficult challenge, so running two seems very impossible. george: there is a short list. tim: both companies have issues

they needed to take care of immediately. emily: crawford, should it be jack? crawford: i think the first chapter of twitter is closed. i think the next chapter needs to be someone who devolves product. -- who evolves the product. emily: someone like evan williams? crawford: yeah, i think it needs to evolve to a new place. it needs to attract a new type of user. emily: crawford, tim, and george. so for curtis -- so fortuitous to have you on the show today. we will continue to follow this. dick costolo stepping out as twitter ceo, jack dorsey stepping in as interim ceo, also the ceo of another company called square. we will talk gaming with ea

founder and a lot more on twitter. ♪

mark:john: with all due respect to senator mark kirk-- ♪ mark: happy national corn on the cob day. in our lineup tonight, a stock, a straw. but first, a pick. the first -- aprila a pick six. mark, you were out there in in deer valley. is a romney -- in a romney