Tech

Ashton Kutcher: Why I'm not investing in Twitter

Ashton Kutcher: Twitter has turned into media platform
VIDEO1:1501:15
Ashton Kutcher: Twitter has turned into media platform

Despite becoming the first person to hit 1 million followers on Twitter, actor and tech investor Ashton Kutcher isn't investing in the social media giant.

Although, he says, in Twitter's early days, "I most definitely wanted to invest, I just didn't have an opportunity to do so," he told CNBC's "Closing Bell" Monday.

Now the company has changed, he said.

"I think what's happened over time is the platform went from being a one-to-one, one-to-many, one-to-few communication platform and sort of turned into more of a media platform that was like a headline dictator or just a place where people are sort of pushing whatever product they're trying to sell," Kutcher said.

He also noted that there has been a lot of corporate turnover in the last several years, and that it takes time for a large company to roll out new products.

"I think [CEO Jack Dorsey] is up against it a little bit," Kutcher said.

Kutcher & Oseary's new investments for Sound Ventures
VIDEO1:5901:59
Kutcher & Oseary's new investments for Sound Ventures

Twitter shares have tumbled since Friday, when Salesforce ruled out a bid for the company. Chatter about potential buyers had also included names like Disney and Google.

Kutcher, who has invested in companies like Skype, Square and Foursquare, said companies would probably be interested in buying Twitter for the right price.

"Twitter needs to release some numbers on their user engagement and their churn and get some ground stability relative to what their product is; and I think that those companies would be a lot more interested," he said.

Snapchat is another tech name that Kutcher has so far avoided. He passed on the name after voicing concerns about the perceived privacy of the platform in its early days, but he told CNBC he believes the company has resolved a lot of those issues.

"I haven't really looked at what the price of the company is and based on its current growth whether or not there is value there, but the company is certainly far more sound today than what it was when I was looking at it," he said.

On Monday, Kutcher, along with his Sound Venture's co-founder Guy Oseary, announced their firm has invested in two companies that took part in the Forbes Under 30 Summit's Global Change the World competition. Those companies are Opus 12 and Pillar Technologies.