Twitter’s Stock Bounces Back 9% After An NFL Deal And A Stock Purchase

If you just read the media reports, Twitter is a sad, ship-jumping mess. The reality of the situation is that while the company might seem like a soap opera part of the time, its uniqueness causes that pain. The “how to fix Twitter” meme continues, with everyone weighing in being an obvious professional when it comes to corporate turnarounds at social firms that benefited from endless earned-media in their adolescence.

Because of course they are.

Today, a few good things happened for Twitter. Even for the most troubled company, and Twitter is far from that status, there are times of good news. Here’s what’s up for the firm now:

  • Twitter signed a two-year extension for its deal with the NFL. Great news, since the NFL’s first preseason game outdid the NHL’s deciding game 6 in overnight viewing numbers. Eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs.
  • Its interim CEO, Jack Dorsey, decided to pick up some stock while it was on the cheaper side (around $27) and proclaim that he was investing in Twitter’s future. Nice move, as investors took that confidence (it was a really slick move, to be honest) as a sign to buy again.

It’s worth keeping in mind the pain that Twitter went through after its public offering to underscore that its key executives would not sell their stakes. And, of course, how the company has come under fire for its executives’ continued sale of shares, even as investor confidence flags, and its share price weighs upon internal morale.

What do we have here? An extremely volatile situation that can swing up and down based on myriad, fluid reasons. It’s quite funny watching people scramble to cover the company in near-realtime as they try to tell a narrative that is way more sexy than the truth.

While TechCrunch has been quite focused on Twitter’s gyrations — Alex, please report to Blogger Jail — along with much of the rest of the media, akin to the Chinese stock market, it makes a bit more sense to be patient and wait for larger trends than to obsess over minor shifts in share price.

(At what threshold a bump or dip becomes relevant is a fair question. A 10 percent swing is news, but a 4 percent bump without strong accompanying news probably isn’t; how newsworthy are record lows or highs? How much finance do we want in our tech?)

Regardless, Twitter had a good day today, and one that it can bank on to bolster internal morale, score points with its long-term investors, and show some life. If tomorrow bring share profit taking, expect a reversal.

So, Twitter, how ’bout that new CEO?