Twitter CEO Dick Costolo Resigns; Google to Acquire Microblogging Service?

A possible acquisition of Twitter is reported to be underway in the wake of CEO Dick Costolo's decision to step down from his position effective on July 1, the New York Times reported Thursday.

The chief executive of the microblogging platform announced that he is resigning from office and is handing over the leadership of the company to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey temporarily while they are searching for a permanent replacement.

"Dick Costolo to step down as CEO, will remain on Board, and Jack Dorsey appointed Interim CEO, effective July 1," the company wrote in a tweet.

Costolo's resignation comes in the wake of criticisms about the "disappointing financial performance" as well as the social messaging site's decline in the international stock market.

News of the leadership turnover back to Dorsey, who already served as Twitter's CEO during its early years, gained positive response from the business community and even gained the company almost six percent of shares.

Serving the company as its chief executive officer for five years, Costolo had led Twitter through a successful debut in the stock market back in 2013.

According to an insider source of Tech Crunch, employees of the microblogging platform loved how the comedian-turned-businessman brought order to Twitter, which was formerly at its "chaotic adolescence" before he arrived.

Despite this, analysts insist that his resignation would provide more positive effects in the company especially after the Wall Street Journal called him "a reactive thinker who bounces from one idea to the next."

Investors, on the other hand, had long been calling for Costolo to step down, putting pressure on him for the company's poor financial performance in the past.

In fact, one of them had even publicized his disappointment on the company's standing at present in an 8,500-word analysis posted in LowerCaseCapital.com.

The investor noted some things that had led to the financial crisis in the company, such as the slow growth of new users, nearly 1 billion users who did not stick with the social media provider, Wall Street's diminished confidence in the management team and Twitter's inability to convince investors of the company's potential.

As Costolo steps down from office, a report from the New York Times surfaced of the possible acquisition of the company by companies which can afford its price of $24 billion in market valuation, particularly Internet giant Google. This, however, has yet to be confirmed.