Jack Dorsey is stepping down as Twitter CEO.
After co-founding Twitter in 2006, Dorsey became CEO in 2007. Under his leadership as chairman and again as CEO, he transformed the company into a social media giant. Today, the site is valued at approximately $8 billion.
Dorsey blocked Donald Trump's account following the 2021 attack on the United States Capitol. Meanwhile, dozens of official and pro-Taliban accounts remain active on the microblogging platform.
CNN technology reporter Brian Fung reports that Twitter's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Parag Agrawal will replace Dorsey.
Agrawal is already drawing controversy for a tweet from 2010 quoting “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”:
The tweet didn't inspire confidence among conservatives:
Dorsey resignation is “effective immediately,” adds Fung. Though he will remain on Twitter's Board at least through 2022.
As CNBC reports:
“I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said in a statement, though he didn't provide any additional detail on why he decided to resign.
Agrawal will have to meet Twitter's aggressive internal goals. The company said earlier this year it aims to have 315 million monetizable daily active users by the end of 2023 and to at least double its annual revenue in that year.
Agrawal, who's served as CTO since 2017, has been with Twitter for more than a decade. He had been in charge of strategy involving artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Dorsey faced an ousting last year when Twitter stakeholder Elliott Management had sought to replace him. Elliott Management founder and billionaire investor Paul Singer had wondered whether Dorsey should run both of the public companies, calling for him to step down as CEO of one of them, before the investment firm reached a deal with the company's management.
Reaction on Twitter was mixed:
How do you feel about Dorsey's decision to step down? Do you think it will make Twitter better or worse? As always, tell us your thoughts below!
I think it won’t have much impact on the site. The bar is pretty low… Twitter was right to block Trump for his pitiful election misinformation. Still, it’s way worse that the Taliban and Iran’s ayatollah have their Twitter accounts.
It was a POS site and I expect it to remain as such or get worse.
If they allow terrorists to remain on the platform yet block a sitting potus because of an alphabet agency false flag they show their true colors. They set their reason aside and set their bar so low as a propaganda arm that respect for them as a platform follows suit. Maybe they’ll surprise me, but putting an entrenched officer to replace him, I expect only “more of the same”.