Could the answer to “What’s My Name,” the 1993 top-ten hit by Snoop Dogg, be “the next Twitter CEO”? Probably not — though Snoop has signaled that he wouldn’t mind. The rap superstar, whose legal name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., has not only thrown his hat into the ring to turn the social media network around, he’s laid out his strategy to improve its bottom line.
“I’m ready to lead @twitter !!,” Snoop, 43, tweeted on June 11, just after news broke that Dick Costolo was stepping down as CEO of the San Francisco–based company. Snoop’s plan of action? “First order of business, get that moolah!” he wrote in a follow-up post. Although Twitter’s C-suite has yet to extend a welcome, his verve for corporate management soon sparked a couple of hashtags, #SnoopforCEO and #IfSnoopWasTwitterCEO.
At first blush Snoop may look like a novelty candidate at best, but the rapper, who’s perhaps as celebrated for his marijuana use as for his music, has grassroots media support and business savvy. He’s amassed 12.4 million followers on his Twitter account @SnoopDogg and more than 1 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, GGN (Double G News Network), which has a total of 431 million views.
Snoop, who’s worth an estimated $135 million, has invested in no-fee online brokerage Robinhood and social news site Reddit, where he’s an active participant. The hip-hop titan has also put his money where his mouth is, so to speak. His Delaware-incorporated, Los Angeles–based Casa Verde Capital joined a $10 million funding round for Eaze Solutions, a California medical marijuana delivery service. Snoop is reportedly raising a separate $25 million to back start-ups for digital distribution of pot.
For his part, Costolo, who left his post on July 1 but remains a Twitter director, saw his stake in the company rise in value by $11.2 million — bolstering his $400 million-plus fortune — as Twitter’s shares shot up 8 percent the day he announced his departure.
Perhaps those extra benjamins signaled the end of a slump that has seen investors drop Twitter like it’s hot, to paraphrase a 2006 Snoop smash. In the year leading up to Costolo’s exit, the company’s stock had lost roughly 30 percent of its value amid sluggish ad sales and questions over monetization. One problem is Twitter’s age: Its user base is growing much more slowly than before its initial public offering. Ironically, advancing technology hasn’t helped either. More than three quarters of Twitter’s 302 million monthly active users access it via mobile devices, which don’t put promoted tweets and hashtags front and center like desktop machines do.
Twitter was once the ultimate social media darling. The service, which launched in 2006 as a way to transmit SMS musings over the Internet — hence the 140-character limit on posts — had 200 million followers before it went public seven years later, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
On November 7, 2013, Twitter began trading on the New York Stock Exchange rather than the tech-heavy Nasdaq Stock Market, where Facebook had made its shaky debut in May 2012. After initially pricing at $24, Twitter closed its first day of trading at $44.90. As of this July its market cap stood at about $23 billion; revenue for the first quarter totaled $436 million, up 74 percent year-over-year but well short of consensus forecasts of $456 million. During that same period the company posted a net loss of $162.4 million, versus $132.3 million for the first three months of 2014.
Costolo’s announcement failed to thrill investors over the longer term, at least judging from Twitter’s share price, which has since remained largely flat, closing at $34.36 on July 9. Co-founder Jack Dorsey, who is also co-founder and CEO of Square, a mobile payment company based in San Francisco, has stepped in as chief executive. In a June 20 announcement, Twitter stated that a new boss would have to make a “full-time commitment” to the business. “In our next CEO, we are looking for a bold thinker and proven leader capable of helping Twitter fully capitalize on its unique platform for the benefit of users, advertisers and employees and to maximize value for investors in the years ahead,” said director Peter Currie, head of the search committee.
Given the demands of his musical career, Snoop Dogg likely won’t make Twitter’s short list. Another Silicon Valley company has voiced support for him, though. “At a minimum Snoop should be chair of the audit committee,” Aaron Levie, CEO of online storage provider Box — which had its own IPO in January — tweeted in response to the Doggfather’s expression of interest in the top job. Snoop seemed more than happy with the idea. “I know who to hit up next,” he posted. “I’m all about that cloud!”
Get more on trading and technology.
Visit Anne Szustek’s blog and foller her on Twitter at @the59thStBridge.
