• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, March 9, 2020

Twitter Inc. struck a deal with Elliott Management Corp., the activist investor, that will keep Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey in place as CEO.

The agreement with the hedge fund, led by Republican mega-donor Paul Singer, calls for Twitter to name two new board members, commit to searching for a new independent director, and make $2 billion in share repurchases, with the buyback funded in part by tech investment firm Silver Lake, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The deal also specifies that that Elliott and Silver Lake will interfere with Twitter’s policies or rules.

Singer/Elliott, which recently acquired a “sizable” stake in Twitter -- $1 billion, according to WSJ sources -- have been pressuring to oust Dorsey as CEO on grounds that it’s falling behind on both performance and innovation. Dorsey, who is also CEO of Square, has been insufficiently focused on Twitter, the critics claim.

Elliott had nominated four executives for Twitter’s board, and two its will now join the board: Elliott’s U.S. head of activism, Jesse Cohn, and Silver Lake Co-CEO and managing partner Egon Durban.

The agreement “leaves open the possibility of executive change at Twitter,” per WSJ. Cohn and Durban will be part of a new committee that will examine Twitter’s leadership structure, including Dorsey’s role, and announce its findings year-end.