Tag: ceo

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Mobile Syrup

Musk to resign once he finds someone ‘foolish enough’ to be Twitter CEO

Surprising absolutely no one, Elon Musk said he would still be in charge of parts of Twitter after finding someone “foolish enough” to take the job.

Over the weekend, Musk ran a Twitter poll asking if he should step down as head of Twitter after he oversaw a series of suspensions targeting journalists and rival social media platforms. He lost, with nearly 58 percent of the 17.5 million votes favouring Musk stepping down. Further, in an absolute sore loser move, Musk said he’d change the rules on Twitter to restrict voting in polls so only Twitter Blue subscribers can do so.

Following the poll, there was some debate over whether Musk would actually step down from the CEO role. I had doubts, but reports suggested Musk had started the hunt for a new Twitter CEO long before posting the poll. Well, looks like I was at least partially right.

Musk tweeted a response to the poll on December 20th, writing that he will resign “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job.” Musk went on to say he would “just run the software & servers teams” after handing over the CEO role.

As The Verge points out, software and servers are the vast majority of Twitter at this point, especially after Musk laid off huge swaths of the company. However you slice it, it seems clear Musk has no intention of giving up control regardless if he holds the official CEO title.

You can follow along with Musk’s chaotic reign over Twitter here.

Source: @elonmusk Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Rogers CEO says July 8th outage caused by ‘maintenance update’

Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri published another update about Friday’s day-long outage, finally detailing some of what went wrong.

“We now believe we’ve narrowed the cause to a network system failure following a maintenance update in our core network, which caused some of our routers to malfunction early Friday morning,” Staffieri wrote. “We disconnected the specific equipment and redirected traffic, which allowed our network and services to come back online over time as we managed traffic volumes returning to normal levels.”

Moreover, Staffieri said he was “troubled” that customers weren’t able to reach emergency service during the outage and said Rogers is addressing the issue “as an urgent priority.”

Finally, Staffieri laid out three pillars of the company’s action plan following the outage. First, the company plans to fully restore all services. Staffieri said this was nearly finished, but the company is still monitoring stability across the network.

Next, Rogers intends to complete analysis and testing of the root cause of the outage. Part of this goal is to increase redundancy in Rogers’ network.

Finally, Rogers will make necessary changes to “increase network stability for our customers, and enhance our testing.”

You can read the CEO’s words in full here.

This is the most information Rogers has provided about the outage so far. Rogers’ network went down early on the morning of July 8th, disrupting wireless and internet services for customers, including Rogers’ flanker brands Fido and Chatr. Moreover, the outage impacted government and financial services, businesses, and even caused several events to be postponed.

Cloudflare previously shared an analysis of Rogers’ network based on internet traffic, suggesting the issue was an internal problem and not the result of a cyberattack. It appears that the analysis was correct.

Rogers also reiterated that it would automatically apply credits to compensate customers for the outage, clarifying that there would be no action required from people to claim the credit. The clarification comes as the company acknowledged ongoing scam messages using the promised credit to target customers.

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Mobile Syrup

New Peleton CEO is looking into an app store and revamped subscription

Peleton’s new CEO Barry McCarthy suggests the company is exploring an app store and a reinvented subscription model for the company.  In an interview with New York Times’ DealBook, McCarthy says that this would be an attempt to kickstart sales as things have stagnated for the fitness brand.

The CEO likes the idea of an app store being featured as a part of their products, allowing third-party content to be made available on the platform. McCarthy mentions that “Today, [Peleton} is a closed platform — but it could be an open platform and part of the creator economy.”

The executive thinks this effort could widen the scope of what the company offers, including services like running a Peleton app store and such from outside their walled garden.

He says that Peleton is much more than just hardware now and that it is more about the experience including the music, instructors, and community features.

Looking even further down the line, McCarthy hints at the possibility of shaking up the fitness company’s subscription model. He says the company wants to find a “sweet spot” between the pricey cost of Peleton hardware and the subscription it offers. The CEO ponders on a future where the upfront cost is much lower but with a higher subscription fee of between $70 and $80. This is in stark contrast to the upwards of $1000 it can cost to get a piece of Peleton equipment with a $39 a month subscription fee.

Image Source: Peleton

Source: New York Times

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Mobile Syrup

New Peleton CEO is looking into an app store and revamped subscription

Peleton’s new CEO Barry McCarthy suggests the company is exploring an app store and a reinvented subscription model for the company.  In an interview with New York Times’ DealBook, McCarthy says that this would be an attempt to kickstart sales as things have stagnated for the fitness brand.

The CEO likes the idea of an app store being featured as a part of their products, allowing third-party content to be made available on the platform. McCarthy mentions that “Today, [Peleton} is a closed platform — but it could be an open platform and part of the creator economy.”

The executive thinks this effort could widen the scope of what the company offers, including services like running a Peleton app store and such from outside their walled garden.

He says that Peleton is much more than just hardware now and that it is more about the experience including the music, instructors, and community features.

Looking even further down the line, McCarthy hints at the possibility of shaking up the fitness company’s subscription model. He says the company wants to find a “sweet spot” between the pricey cost of Peleton hardware and the subscription it offers. The CEO ponders on a future where the upfront cost is much lower but with a higher subscription fee of between $70 and $80. This is in stark contrast to the upwards of $1000 it can cost to get a piece of Peleton equipment with a $39 a month subscription fee.

Image Source: Peleton

Source: New York Times

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung appoints two new CEOs in bid to stay competitive

Berlin, Germany- September 6.,2017., Samsung exhibition pavilion

Samsung Electronics has announced the appointment of two new CEOs as part of internal changes to the organization’s structure.

Jong-Hee Han is the new CEO of SET Division, focusing on mobile and consumer electronics. He continues to lead the Visual Business Display section. “[Han] is expected to strengthen the synergies among the different businesses in the SET Division and help drive new businesses and technologies,” a press release announcing the appointment notes.

Kyehyun Kyung has also been appointed CEO of the Device Solutions Division, focusing on semiconductors. Kyung was the previous CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics and will now “ lead innovation in the components business.”

The company notes the changes will help them be stronger competitors and assist with the company’s growth.

Image source: ShutterStock

Source: Samsung

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Mobile Syrup

Internal Rogers power struggle failed to oust CEO Joe Natale: report

Toronto-based national carrier Rogers saw a dramatic power struggle that ended with the abrupt departure of chief financial officer (CFO) Tony Staffieri as company chairperson Edward Rogers tried unsuccessfully to unseat CEO Joe Natale.

The Globe and Mail details the full saga (which is well worth the read) based on information from sources within the company. The Globe did not identify the sources since they’re not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

According to the report, tensions between Staffieri and Natale brewed for years. Staffieri joined Rogers in 2012 and developed a close relationship with the company’s chairperson. Further, Staffieri reportedly had ambitions to become the CEO and frequently butted heads with Natale about the company’s strategic direction.

After returning from the company’s most recent Christmas break, Natale allegedly began searching for a new CFO to replace Staffieri — a search interrupted by Rogers’ proposed acquisition of Shaw Communications, which happened in March. At the same time, Edward Rogers reportedly was trying to remove Natale from the CEO position and transition Staffieri into it. Rogers was also reportedly working to replace other members of the executive team, many of which were loyal to Natale.

The sources claim an emergency board meeting was held on September 26th. Melinda Hixon-Rogers, deputy chair of the company and Rogers’ sister, reportedly opposed Rogers’ plan — the overwhelming majority of the board backed Natale and his team. Staffieri’s departure came three days later.

In a statement to The Globe, a Rogers company spokesperson said:

“As with any similar transition, the recent CFO change was voted on and approved by the majority of the board of directors. The majority of the board has full confidence in Joe’s leadership and strategic vision for Rogers as we look forward to the transformational combination of Rogers and Shaw and continue to focus on delivering long-term value for our customers and shareholders.”

The Globe also detailed the company’s ongoing struggle with executive turnover — that alone is worth taking the time to read if internal politics at Rogers is at all interesting to you.

Industry analysts told The Globe that Staffieri’s departure in the midst of the Shaw acquisition was strange and unexpected. The proposed acquisition still requires approval from several regulatory bodies, including the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) and the Competition Bureau.

Source: The Globe and Mail

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Mobile Syrup

Instagram CEO says it’d be “nice” to have an iPad app

Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri acknowledged it’d be “nice” to have an iPad app, seemingly forgetting he’s got the power to make it happen.

In a series of Instagram Stories over the weekend, Mosseri did a little ‘ask me anything’ and answered several questions. One simple question was, “Where’s the Instagram iPad app?”

Mosseri mentions that he was using an iPad on his flight but acknowledges that there’s still no Instagram app for iPad.

“It’d be nice to do, but there’s a lot to do and only so many people, so it hasn’t made the cut.”

In the following Story, Mosseri and his wife discuss who would use Instagram on an iPad, then acknowledge that Mosseri’s mother-in-law probably would.

It’s no secret that many people would welcome Instagram on the iPad. People have iPads and I’m sure there’s a lot of crossover between Instagram users and iPad owners. Having access to Instagram’s primarily visual interface on a much larger display would be great for people with visual impairments or for those who just want to look at pictures on something larger than a phone.

To be fair, the mediocre Instagram experience on iPad will soon get better. A new feature in iPadOS 15 will let Instagram and other iPhone-only apps run in portrait mode while holding the tablet in landscape mode. That should make it much easier to multitask and have Instagram and other apps open simultaneously.

Unfortunately, that’s still not as good as an actual Instagram app on iPad. Plus, considering Instagram’s website now lets people upload content from browsers on Windows, Mac or other desktops, it’s even stranger that you can’t from the iPad, regardless if you use the app or browser.

At this point, it seems like the Instagram team just really hates the iPad.

Source: Adam Mosseri (Instagram) Via: 9to5Mac