Twitter chairman Jack Dorsey, who’s also CEO of online commerce company Square, has joined Walt Disney’s board of directors to advise the media giant on its digital strategy.
The move means Dorsey will soon be pulling up a seat alongside another social media bigwig, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who’s been on the board for the last three years.
The media giant announced Dorsey’s appointment in a release on Monday, with Disney chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger describing the Twitter co-founder as a “talented entrepreneur who has helped create groundbreaking new businesses in the social media and commerce spaces.”
He continued, “The perspective he brings to Disney and its board is extremely valuable, given our strategic priorities, which include utilizing the latest technologies and platforms to reach more people and to enhance the relationship we have with our customers.”
Iger knows a thing or two and about Web- and tech-related matters, as he currently sits on Apple’s board, and was a key figure in Disney’s acquisition of Steve Jobs’ Pixar animation studio for $7.4 billion back in 2006.
For his part, 36-year-old Dorsey said he was “honored and humbled” to be joining the board, adding, “Disney is a timeless company, one we all grow up learning from and admiring.” Following the announcement, he posted an early sketch of Mickey Mouse together with a Walt Disney quote, “I only hope we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”
“I only hope we don’t lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse.”—Walt Disney pic.twitter.com/MgY9byVIkz
— Jack Dorsey (@jack) December 23, 2013
Dorsey replaces Cisco Systems’ Judith L. Estrin, whose maximum 15-year tenure on Disney’s board has just finished.
It was Jack Dorsey who posted the very first message to Twitter, back in March 2006. Little could he have known that when he launched the microblogging site with the words “just setting up my twttr”, he’d be sitting on the board of directors of one of the world’s most famous media companies just eight years later.
