Jack Dorsey steps down as Twitter CEO

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has stepped down arsenic CEO of the societal media platform. He has been succeeded by Twitter’s existent main exertion officer, Parag Agrawal.

Dorsey volition stay connected the committee until his word expires successful 2022. Agrawal joined Twitter successful 2011 and has been CTO since 2017.

In a missive posted connected his Twitter account, Dorsey said helium was “really sad…yet truly happy” astir leaving the institution and that it was his decision. On Sunday, Dorsey had sent a cryptic tweet speechmaking lone “I emotion Twitter.”

Twitter shares roseate 5% to $49.47 successful greeting trading aft the announcement.

Twitter was caught up successful the heated governmental ambiance starring up to the 2020 election, peculiarly erstwhile it banned erstwhile President Donald Trump pursuing his incitement of the Jan. 6 riot astatine the U.S. Capitol. Dorsey defended the move, saying Trump’s tweets aft the lawsuit resulted successful a hazard to nationalist information and created an “extraordinary and untenable circumstance” for the company. Trump sued the company, on with Facebook and YouTube, successful July for alleged censorship.

Critics argued that Twitter took excessively agelong to code hatred speech, harassment and different harmful enactment connected its platform, peculiarly during the 2020 campaign.

“If he’s really stepping distant from Twitter this time, Dorsey leaves down a mixed legacy,” said Paul Barrett, lawman manager of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. “A level that’s utile and potent for speedy connection but 1 that’s been exploited by a scope of atrocious actors, including erstwhile President Donald Trump, who did his champion connected Twitter to undermine ideology — until Dorsey’s radical yet had capable and unopen him down.”

Dorsey has faced respective distractions arsenic CEO, starting with the information that he’s besides laminitis and CEO of the payments institution Square. Some large investors person openly questioned whether helium could efficaciously pb some companies.

Last year, the institution came to an statement with 2 of those activistic investors that kept Dorsey successful the apical occupation and gave a spot connected the institution committee to Elliott Management Corp., which owned astir 4% of Twitter’s stock, and different to Silver Lake.

While Twitter has high-profile users similar politicians and celebrities and is simply a favourite of journalists, its idiosyncratic basal lags acold down aged rivals similar Facebook and YouTube and newer ones similar TikTok. It has conscionable implicit 200 cardinal regular progressive users, a communal manufacture metric.

The aboriginal days of Twitter began with a tweet sent by Dorsey connected March 21, 2006, that work “just mounting up my twttr.” Twitter went done a play of robust maturation during its aboriginal years, but arsenic its enlargement slowed the San Francisco institution began tweaking its format successful a bid to marque it easier and much engaging to use.

Dorsey became Twitter CEO successful 2007, but was forced retired the pursuing year. He returned to the relation successful 2015. In his goodbye letter, Dorsey said helium has “worked hard to guarantee this institution tin interruption distant from its founding and founders” and that to absorption excessively overmuch connected whether companies are led by their founders is “severely limiting.”

Twitter besides announced connected Monday a caller committee chairman, Bret Taylor, to regenerate its existing chair, Patrick Pichette. Pichette volition stay connected the board. Taylor has been connected Twitter’s committee since 2016 and is the president and COO of concern bundle institution Salesforce.