BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Why Am I Doing Twitter's Job? Hear Twitter CEO's 'Secret' Speech For Yourself

This article is more than 9 years old.

The CEO of Twitter spoke at a public event.  Twitter has not released a transcript of that event for shareholders.  Hear for yourself what the CEO said at an 'off the record' public meeting in front of a packed auditorium.

On November 21st, the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo spoke at the Ross School of Business at a fraternity event.  Although the event was held at Ross, the Ross School of Business has distanced itself from the event by notifying me that it was NOT a Ross event.  This was a fraternity event that was run by  Phi Chi Theta.  Twitter has informed me that they did not set the policies; the student group set the policies.

The one-hour interview of the CEO was given in a public university, in an auditorium with hundreds of students and in a publicly announced event.  The auditorium was packed and it seats 500 people.  There was also some other media in the audience.  The CEO is a high-ranking official at a $25 billion social media company, yet the audience was told that the event was ‘off the record’ (so the public had to be ironically unsocial about a social company).  Shareholders outside of the room would not hear what was said.  Shareholders inside the room would hear what was said.  Photography was not allowed, and I was told that I could not take photos or the CEO would leave.  I respected that wish, but the fraternity broke the rule by taking photographs of the event.  Also, the CEO recently sold a large portion of his shares and so any comments relating to Twitter’s stock price would be of great interest to shareholders.  The audience was also informed that Twitter was thinking about changing their 140 character limit.

I believe that the entire speech should be made public for shareholders.  I gave my thoughts on the event in a previous article.  In that article I was concerned about how the event was off the record and how shareholders (outside of that room) wouldn’t have fair access to the event.  If the CEO said something that shareholders would consider material, then they wouldn’t hear it.  I raised concerns about how I viewed the comments in his speech as pessimistic indicators about the stock price.  I also felt it was hypocritical/ironic of Twitter to promote the use of Tweeting at events, but not promote it when their CEO was speaking.

Although I work and teach about stocks at the Ross School of Business, my comments are mine alone; they do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Michigan or the Ross School of Business.  But, I have always felt that the Ross School of Business views ethics, transparency and positive business practices with the utmost importance.  For example, this event was listed as a public event, but then the fraternity told the public that it was a private event.  So, I contacted the Ross School of Business and they corrected them and told me that it was public.  The Ross School of Business understood ethics, the fraternity did not.

I want other shareholders to hear what I heard at that speech.  They can hear what the CEO said, so they can decide if they agree or disagree with my observations, and so they can come up with their own opinions on other items as well.  I felt it was unfair that I knew the contents of the entire speech, whereas other members of the media, the public and the shareholders didn’t.  What if any students or mutual funds in the audience traded on it?  The shareholders in the public should hear the speech, because there might be material statements in the speech.  Perhaps others would look at how he said the information, rather than what was said.  I was worried that students and possible shareholders in the crowd could buy or sell Twitter on Monday November 24th based on information that they heard in that speech, and that information might provide an unfair advantage to those shareholders over other shareholders.  I was worried that if I traded on the pessimistic statements (my opinion) made by the CEO, but the world hadn't heard them for themselves, then would I be sent to jail?  The public had to know what the CEO said in that speech.

I am disappointed with Twitter’s leadership.  It's not clear as to why they didn't correct the 'off the record' policy.  They should transcribe this event and put it on their website and notify the public of the speech.  They should have taken the steps to make this speech available to all shareholders and not just this audience.  I have published the entire session because I believe in ethics and I believe in transparency.   I have published the entire session because it’s the right thing to do.  I have published the entire session so academics like Greg Miller, a ground-breaking ethical academic at the Ross School of Business, might find it interesting for their research on ‘selective access’ and ‘selective disclosure’.  I have published the entire session because I can’t just teach; I must also exercise ‘action-based learning’ and go ‘boundaryless’ as I go beyond teaching and put ethics into action.  I have published the entire session because I’d rather avoid jail, than piss-off a secret fraternity for breaking their unprofessional ‘off the record’ policy on public CEO interviews.

Hopefully some students and CEO’s can learn a few lessons from this finance lecturer, on this very public event.

I have asked Twitter if they have a recording or a transcript of the event.  I have asked Twitter if they have any objection to publishing the entire speech.  Twitter has not responded.

Here is the speech.  For some irony, it's on a social platform.

I shouldn’t have to do this work for them.  It’s Twitter’s job to post this speech to their shareholders.

As a disclosure, I am virtually short 1 virtual share of TWTR on http://upgradecapital.com/