Twitter Inc Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey will walk down from his role, and Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal will become his replacement, Twitter declared on Monday.
“Deep gratitude for Jack and our entire team, and so much excitement for the future,” Parag, an IIT-Bombay alumnus, shared in a tweet along with a note.
“The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Lots of people are going to have lots of different views and opinions about today’s news. It is because they care about Twitter and our future, and it’s a signal that the work we do here matters,” Agrawal stated in his note to Dorsey.
Deep gratitude for @jack and our entire team, and so much excitement for the future. Here’s the note I sent to the company. Thank you all for your trust and support 💙 https://t.co/eNatG1dqH6 pic.twitter.com/liJmTbpYs1
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) November 29, 2021
Dorsey’s retirement from the organization marks the end of his second CEO stint at the popular social networking site. He leaves at a time when Twitter has made headings for its refreshed pace of product launches after years of criticism that the site had settled behind bigger competitors like Facebook and new social media apps such as TikTok in addition.
A source familiar with the subject told Reuters that Dorsey is walking down now as he feels optimistic about his successor and will concentrate on his payments processing company Square Inc and other pursuits, including philanthropy.
The company’s board has been planning for Dorsey’s departure since last year, the source stated.
Shares of the microblogging platform surged 9% in early trading, while those of digital payments firm Square Inc, of which Dorsey is also chief executive, were up 3%.
Dorsey had co-founded Twitter back in 2006 and became CEO the following year.
In 2008, co-founder Ev Williams and board member Fred Wilson drove out Dorsey as the social media site obtained steam with users, and they decided he was unfit to head the company.
But after years of stagnant growth and a slumping share price, Dorsey was replaced as CEO in 2015 while maintaining to lead Square.
However, in early 2020, Dorsey faced calls from Elliott Management Corp to step down, after the hedge fund claimed that he was giving too little attention to Twitter while also managing payments processing company Square Inc. Dorsey opposed the pressure by giving Elliott and its ally, buyout firm Silver Lake Partners, seats on Twitter’s board.
