Twitter Inc. has struck a truce with Elliott Management Corp., an investment firm that was seeking to oust Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey.

Twitter said today that it has inked a “cooperation agreement” with the activist hedge fund under which it will buy back $2 billion worth of its own shares. In addition, Elliott Management partner Jesse Cohn is joining the social network’s board of directors.

“We invested in Twitter because we see a significant opportunity for value creation at the Company,” Cohn said in a statement. “I am looking forward to working with Jack and the Board to help contribute to realizing Twitter’s full potential.”

The agreement with Elliott has multiple dimensions. To help finance the $2 billion share buyback program, Twitter has raised a $1 billion investment from private equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC and Silver Lake is appointing its co-CEO Egon Durban to the social network’s board.

Moreover, Twitter has launched a search for a third new independent director to join Cohn and Durban. 

At the same time, the Twitter board is forming a five-person committee set to consist of Cohn, Durban and three other directors that will “evaluate the CEO succession plan” at the social network. The committee will also “make recommendations consistent with corporate governance best practices with respect to the elimination of the Company’s staggered board,” the announcement read. The group will share its suggestions by the end of the year.

The push to explore a succession plan for Dorsey (pictured) leaves open the possibility that Elliott will relaunch its effort to replace the CEO further down the road. Eliminating Twitter’s staggered board, as the committee signaled it may do, would make such a move easier. A staggered board is a type of board structure that provides companies with a measure of protection against activist investors such as Elliot.

But for the time being at least, it appears that the investment firm won’t be firing any broadsides at Twitter. 

“Per the terms of the Cooperation Agreement, neither Elliott nor Silver Lake, will comment on or influence, or attempt to influence, directly or indirectly, any Twitter policies or rules, or policy or rule enforcement decisions, related to the Twitter platform,” the social network said.

Elliott launched its push to oust Dorsey from the CEO role after recently accumulating a 4% stake in Twitter. The week after word of the hedge fund’s move emerged, Dorsey called off his plans to spend up to half of 2020 in Africa, a travel plan that analysts warned could have drawn backlash from investors. Even Elon Musk joined the discussion at one point, voicing support for Dorsey to stay on as Twitter’s CEO in a tweet. 

Photo: JD Lasica/Flickr