Co-founder returns to Twitter

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is coming back to the social media giant he helped build.

While Stone’s formal role has yet to be announced, he said in a post that his “ top focus will be to guide the company culture, that energy, that feeling.”

“It’s important that everyone understands the whole story of Twitter and each of our roles in that story,” Stone wrote. “I’ll shape the experience internally so it’s also felt outside the company.”

“You might even say the job description includes being Biz Stone,” he continued.

{mosads}Earlier in the year, Stone sold Jelly, another startup he founded, to Pinterest. Stone said in the post that he had accepted another position but changed his mind when he was “overcome with emotion” while guest speaking at a Twitter event.

Despite holding the title of co-founder, Stone had held a smaller role than other founders. He has a 3 percent ownership stake, compared with Jack Dorsey, who is Twitter’s current CEO, who has 20 percent, and Ev Williams’s 70 percent.  

Stone’s return comes as Twitter pushes back against the narrative that it is failing. The company’s stock rallied when Twitter’s earnings this quarter beat analyst projections after previously sliding when it became apparent that a sale was not imminent.

Twitter’s role in politics has also been scrutinized as pundits argue over the role of President Trump’s tweets in the American political landscape.

Dorsey has argued that Trump’s tweets are “really important” for transparency in the political system.