Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and public face of Twitter, will step down from his role as CEO, effective immediately, the company announced Monday. Dorsey will remain a member of Twitter’s board until at least next year.Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief technology officer, will take over as CEO.”I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said in a statement Monday. “My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It’s his time to lead.
In an internal note, shared on his Twitter account, Dorsey said: “I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it. It was a tough one for me, of course. I love this service and company … and all of you so much. I’m really sad … yet really happy. There aren’t many companies that get to this level. And there aren’t many founders that choose their company over their own ego. I know we’ll prove this was the right
The departure comes six years after Dorsey returned to the chief executive role to help turn around the social network’s business. During Dorsey’s tenure, Twitter achieved profitability, posted its first billion-dollar quarter, and began testing and releasing a wide range of features to draw in users. But Twitter, like its peers, has also had to confront the challenge of content moderation as well as growing scrutiny from lawmakers and the public.
CNBC was first to report Dorsey’s expected departure Monday. Shares of Twitter jumped as much as 10% in pre-market trading Monday after the report, before giving up some of those gains. While much smaller than rivals like Facebook, Twitter has been central to the debates over whether and how much social media platforms should be responsible for curbing hate speech, violent rhetoric, and misinformation on their sites. Dorsey has testified several times before Congress amid criticisms of his company’s handling of user content. At the start of this year, Twitter took the extraordinary step of permanently banning a sitting US president from the service following the insurrection at the US Capitol. But under Dorsey’s leadership, Twitter has struggled to design and enforce an ever more complex set of policies and rules for its users, including world leaders. Dorsey has had to navigate those challenges while dividing his time at Twitter by serving as CEO of Square, the payments company he also cofounded. This summer, Dorsey suggested he might be willing to leave Twitter and Square to go work on bitcoin-related initiatives. As recently as last year, Dorsey faced an investor challenge from activist hedge fund Elliott Management pushing for changes, including possibly replacing him. Dorsey ultimately survived.
The reports about Dorsey’s looming departure come 15 years after he helped launch the short-messaging company. Dorsey marked the moment with the platform’s first-ever tweet: “just setting up my twttr.”Dorsey first became CEO of Twitter in 2007 but was forced out of the role the following year. He returned as CEO in 2015.
Twitter chief technology officer Parag Agrawal has replaced Jack Dorsey as the social media platform’s chief executive officer, following confirmation that Twitter founder Dorsey is stepping down. Dorsey will remain a member of Twitter’s board until his term expires in mid-2022.
- Agrawal has been unanimously appointed by the company’s board to replace Dorsey effective immediately, Twitter announced Monday. Agrawal has worked at Twitter for more than a decade.
- In addition, board member Bret Taylor has been named independent chair of the board.
- Dorsey shared an internal email confirming his resignation, in which he described the importance of Twitter “breaking away from its founding and founders.”
- He has yet to announce what his next move will be, though he indicated in August that he had plans to build a decentralized bitcoin exchange via a division of payments company Square, of which he is also CEO. Square recently released a white paper with more details about the plans.
- The Twitter founder is a well-known bitcoin fan, having made several forays into the world’s largest crypto, both through Twitter and Square.
- It was first reported earlier today that Dorsey was expected to step down from his executive role, after which the company’s stock initially jumped 11% before trading was suspended by the New York Stock Exchange.
- Trading was resumed at 15:56 UTC, with Twitter’s shares down 0.5% on the day at the time of writing.
