Jack Dorsey steps down as Twitter CEO

Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey on Monday (29 November) announced that he has stepped down from his position as Twitter CEO. His resignation was effective immediately but he will remain on the board until his term expires at 2022 Twitter stockholders’ meeting. 

Dorsey is replaced by Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal who joined Twitter in 2011 and has been CTO since 2017. 

“I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said in a statement. “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,” he wrote. 

The announcement was first reported by CNBC. After the news broke, as reported by CNN Business, Twitter saw a more than 10% jump in its share price in pre-market trading before giving up some of those gains.

The move also marks the end of Dorsey’s much criticised tenure as CEO of both Twitter and Square, his financial services and digital payments company. Twitter stakeholders Elliott Management and billionaire investor Paul Singer once called on him to step down from one of those roles. Square was founded back in 2009, three years after Twitter was created. Dorsey posted the world’s first tweet on 26 March 2006 that reads “Just setting up my twttr.” He later sold the tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million. 

Dorsey became the CEO of Twitter in 2007, but was forced out of the role the following year. However, he returned as CEO in 2015. This summer, Dorsey hinted that he might be willing to leave Twitter and Square to focus on bitcoin-related initiatives.