Ballmer Advises Dorsey To Ignore Stock Price, Sees Facebook Pressuring Snap

Former Microsoft Corporation MSFT CEO Steve Ballmer looks at Facebook Inc FB with a bit of nostalgia.

“Facebook has become a complete juggernaut,” Ballmer said Tuesday on CNBC. “And I get being a juggernaut, because Microsoft is a juggernaut.”

And juggernauts are not forces to be reckoned with. Just as Microsoft towers menacingly over industry peers, Facebook is poised to overpower social media competitors, Snap Inc SNAP included.

“Juggernauts have certain abilities to move into adjacent territory and put real pressure on the small up-and-comer,” Ballmer said. “Would I expect a lot of that pressure from Facebook on Snap? Yeah, I would.”

His perspective aligns with Facebook’s recent evolution toward Snap-specific technology, such as photo filters and ephemeral media.

The Twitter Optimist

As Snap and Facebook duke it out for dominance, Twitter Inc TWTR fades more deeply into the background. Some contend it’s past its prime, or possibly beyond saving.

Ballmer conceded that the stock, which he bought “at a higher price than it is today,” was previously overrated but assured that company performance is not always directly reflected in or related to stock price.

Not only that, but he’s “absolutely” convinced there’s upside to Twitter shares. But he doesn’t think its rise should preoccupy CEO Jack Dorsey.

“The first thing I’d tell him to do is probably ignore his short-term stock price, because at the end of the day, what they have to do is worry about the product innovation, and they have to worry about the ease of use in marketing,” he offered when asked to lend Dorsey a tip. “And they have to worry about their cost structure, because high cost structure has many bad problems including confusion and chaos, which is worth more than the economic impact.”

Improvement in those critical areas ought to inspire public confidence in the company and generate upside, which together yield conditions meriting a third piece of advice:

“And I’d remain open to offers if they come in.”

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A Snap Bear Responds To The Bull Thesis Twitter Gets Trampled Despite Trump __________ Image Credit: By Jesús Gorriti - originally posted to Flickr as Le Ballmer, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons