Intel President Renee James has reportedly received an offer from Twitter to join the company as its CEO, says a report from the New York Post. Earlier this year, James announced her plans to quit the chip making company, but will stay with the firm until 2016.
Is Intel president a good fit for Twitter?
Citing a person familiar with the discussions at the micro-blogging company, the report says Twitter is looking for eligible candidates for the position of CEO and James is one of the candidates. However, going by her Twitter profile, she does not appear to be an ideal fit. Among the several requirements for a Twitter CEO, one key criteria is the ‘familiarity with the platform.’ That said, the Intel president has tweeted only 14 times since joining the network, and has a mere 2000 followers.
According to StreetInsider, Twitter wants James to join as CEO before next year, and is willing to offer her $4 million in return. Jackdaw Research Chief Analyst Jan Dawson told TheStreet “This one really seems like a stretch to me,” adding “The only possible explanation for hiring her would be as a pure operations type CEO, keeping the lights on from a business perspective, but leaving all the product stuff to others. But that doesn’t really seem like what Twitter needs at this point.”
James, who has a background in software and security, has worked with Intel for 28 years, and headed the software and services group. She led the $7.68 billion acquisition of McAfee, which hasn’t proved profitable for Intel, and this failure has been bandied about as a reason for her exit by many.
Twitter stock rebounds
Nevertheless, Twitter is actively searching for someone to replace Dick Costolo or Jack Dorsey, and several names are being speculated for the coveted post. Dorsey replaced Costolo on the 1st of July as the company’s interim CEO. Apart from Dorsey, Adam Bain, Twitter’s head of global sales, is seen as a top contender for the job.
Amidst this search process, Twitter shares have declined considerably, and reached their low for the year last week. However, on Monday, the stock jumped following the purchase of shares by Dorsey, and a partnership with NLF. At 10.45 am EDT Tuesday, Twitter shares were down 1.39% at $29.08, and year to date the stock is down almost 19%.
