Following are excerpts from the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with Jack Dorsey, Square and Twitter Co-Founder and CEO, and CNBC's Julia Boorstin. Excerpts of the interview will air today throughout CNBC's Business Day programming. Following is a link to the video on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000513044.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
DORSEY ON ACQUISITIONS
WE'VE BENEFITED MASSIVELY FROM M&A IN THE PAST AND THE COMPANY'S BEEN PHENOMENAL AT RECOGNIZING TALENT BEFORE THE WORLD REALLLY GETS A CHANCE TO SEE IT. SO TWO EXAMPLES OF THIS ARE VINE AND PERISCOPE. THE COMPANY MADE THE ACQUISITION BEFORE EACH OF THOSE PRODUCTS LAUNCHED. THEY WERE JUST PHENOMENAL TEAMS AND PHENOMENAL PRODUCTS. AND WE'LL CONTINUE TO LOOK FOR GREAT TEAMS AND GREAT PRODUCTS.
DORSEY ON POTENTIAL SALE
THE BOARD ALWAYS HAS A FIDUCIARY RIGHT TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION, AND WE PRESENTED THEM A 2016 PLAN AROUND OUR FIVE PRIORITIES AND WHAT WE INTEND TO DO AND THEY'RE GOING TO HOLD US ACCOUNTABLE TO THAT.
DORSEY ON USER GROWTH
OUR TOTAL AUDIENCE IS MASSIVE. WE HAVE OVER 800 MILLION PEOPLE EXPERIENCING TWEETS ON A REGULAR BASIS. AND THAT'S JUST IMMENSE. AND YOU CAN'T GO TO ANY MEDIA, YOU CAN'T SEE ANY TELEVISION SCREEN OR OUTDOOR SPACE OR BILLBOARD WITHOUT SEEING A HASHTAG OR AN AT. THAT'S ALL TWITTER. AND WE SEE OUR TWEETS EVERYWHERE AND WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN AND IMPROVE.
DORSEY ON NFL DEAL
THE NFL DEAL IS ONE SUCH EXAMPLE, WHERE WE HAVE PEOPLE TWEETING ABOUT GAMES ALL THE TIME. AND THE SIMPLE QUESTION IS, WHAT IF THE GAME WAS ACTUALLY ON THE SAME SCREEN AS THE TWEETS? AND IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT FOOTBALL, IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT SPORTS. WE CAN DO THIS AROUND LIVE NEWS, WE CAN DO THIS AROUND ELECTIONS, WE CAN DO THIS AROUND DEBATES AND ENTERTAINMENT AS WELL.
DORSEY ON CUSTOMER SERVICE
WE'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR A WHILE AND WE THINK WE HAVE, FIRST, A BRAND RECOGNITION THAT THIS IS A PLACE TO GET REALLY HUMAN FOCUSED CUSTOMER SERVICE AND A HUMAN TOUCH AROUND THAT. WE'VE HAD SOME OF THE BIGGEST BRANDS IN THE WORLD TAKE TO IT. AND NOT JUST FROM A PURE CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDPOINT, BUT LOOKING AS A CHANNEL TO SELL MORE AS WELL.
DORSEY ON LIVE VIDEO
LIVE IS NOT JUST ABOUT LIVE STREAMING, BUT ITS AROUND THESE LIVE EVENTS. AND WE THINK TWITTER IS BETTER POSITIONED THAN ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE BECAUSE THE PEOPLE ON IT WHO ARE TWEETING EVERY SINGLE DAY ABOUT WHAT THEY'RE SEEING, ABOUT WHAT THEY'RE THINKING, AND ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. AND BECAUSE WE'RE PUBLIC, BECAUSE WE'RE DISTRIBUTED, BECAUSE WE'RE REAL TIME AND BECAUSE WE'RE SIMPLE, THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO SEE THE WORLD FASTER THAN ANY OTHER PLATFORM.
DORSEY ON DIVERSITY
DIVERSITY CONTINUES TO BE SOMETHING THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO US AS A COMPANY AND CERTAINLY ON OUR BOARD. AND YOU'LL DEFINITELY SEE ANNOUNCEMENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR TO BRING MORE DIVERSITY AND PERSPECTIVE TO THE BOARD. WE'RE FOCUSED ON ADDING MORE PUBLIC COMPANY EXPERIENCE, WE'RE FOCUSED ON ADDING MORE INTERNATIONAL POLICY EXPERIENCE, AND A LOT MORE MEDIA EXPERIENCE AS WELL.
DORSEY ON STOCK DROP
I THINK YOU KNOW WE'RE FOCUSED ON THE RIGHT THINGS. WE'VE NEVER HAD MORE FOCUS AS A COMPANY AS A DEVELOPMENT TEAM AND WE'RE ENGINEERING WHAT WE BELIEVE TO BE THE BEST EXPERIENCE OUT THERE AROUND LIVE AND AROUND WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW. AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT TWITTER IS THE PLACE THAT YOU CHECK THE FIRST THING TO START YOUR DAY. IT WILL TELL YOU EXACTLY WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE WORLD. WHAT'S MOST IMPORATNT, WHAT MATTERS. AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DRIVING TOWARDS.
DORSEY ON CHANGING TWITTER
WE'VE MADE SOME PRETTY BIG CHANGES OVER THE PAST SIX MONTHS. MOMENTS IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THAT. EVERYTHING THAT WE'RE DOING AROUND PERISCOPE HAS BEEN A BIG SHIFT. THE REFINED TIMELINE IS SOMETHING THAT WE'VE BEEN MEANING TO DO FOR QUITE SOME TIME AND WE'RE SEEING SOME PRETTY SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE SIGNALS OUT OF THAT. MORE TWEETS, MORE REPLYS, MORE RETWEETS, MORE LIKES OBVIOUSLY.
About CNBC:
With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 386 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.
CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV.
Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc.
For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com.