Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey certainly has a sense of humour and he just made it possible for others to laugh along with him. This joke gets an A+ for the extra effort, planning and execution. But, could this be a form of self-punishment instead of just self-deprecation?
TechCrunch noticed that Dorsey filed the paperwork for an official amendment to change his title at Block, Inc., a payments processing company that Dorsey runs.
Dorsey asked for his title to be legally changed and that requires discussions, meetings, voting, marketing and communications input, lawyers and even accounting staff to be involved in this kind of process. Block now has new bylaws that allow the company to remove “the requirement to have an officer with the title of Chief Executive Officer and President.”
As of April 20 Dorsey’s full title became “Block Head and Chairperson,” changed from “Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairperson.” His roles and responsibilities at Block will stay the same. He will continue to serve as principal executive officer of the company with the full authority he had before the change.
But, now, his staff can get away with calling their boss Block Head. That’s confidence. Or, it could be that Dorsey is trying to appear more modest and likeable not only by disparaging himself but allowing others who have any resentment toward him to do the same. That’s marketing. Marketing psychology.
Dorsey also has more free time after stepping down from his position as CEO of Twitter last November. He also has a few extra dollars to throw around after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk bought Twitter just days ago, on April 25, for $44 billion.
The title change could be an act of self-punishment. According to Fortune Dorsey owned only 2.4 per cent of Twitter shares, which amounted to a mere *$978 million for him from the sale.
*Change: May 5, to say Dorsey made $978 million, not $270 million.
Dorsey’s share: 18,042,428 X $39.31 (Twitter’s selling price) = $709 million
Dorsey’s share: 18,042,428 X $54.20 (Musk’s purchase price) = $978 million
The difference between the buying price and the selling price is $270 million, rounded.
by Cherryl Bird – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Twitter @ladycbird | Instagram @cherrylbird
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