Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey calls tweet about Africa move ‘a mistake’

Jack Dorsey may not be taking that long trip to Africa, after all.

Twitter’s 43-year-old CEO said Thursday he was reconsidering plans to spend as much as six months on the continent this year, calling a November tweet about the idea “a mistake.”

“I had been working on my plans where I’d work decentralized, as my team and I do when we travel, but in light of COVID-19 and everything else going on I need to reevaluate,” Dorsey said on Twitter’s Investor Relations account.

Dorsey didn’t mention what “everything else” meant, but his tweet came just days after reports emerged that activist investor Paul Singer was looking to oust Dorsey from his role as CEO.

Among Singer’s main concerns, according to reports, are Dorsey’s divided attention due to his role as CEO of both Twitter and payments company Square, as well as Twitter’s modest stock growth over the past few years compared to its rivals.

Dorsey had spent several weeks in October and November on a tour of Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, and announced after his trip that he would “be living here for 3-6 months mid-2020.”

On Thursday, the Silicon Valley exec said Twitter will “continue to pursue opportunities in Africa” regardless of whether he is living there, calling the continent a “huge opportunity.”

Dorsey has previously tweeted that “Africa will define the future,” and during Twitter’s last earnings call with analysts, said he wants the company to have a global workforce.

“Our concentration in San Francisco is not serving us any longer and we will strive to be a far more distributed workforce, which we will use to improve our execution,” Dorsey said last month.