Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Stepping Down

SAN FRANCISCO — Jack Dorsey is stepping aside as the head and CEO of Twitter, believing the social media giant “Is ready to move on from its founders.”

Dorsey has faced pressure for months over his decision to serve as CEO for both Twitter and Square, the digital payments company. Investors have argued Twitter, in particular, has needed a CEO who would be solely focused on it at a time when it is increasingly under attack in the media and in the halls of Congress.

In its announcement of Dorsey’s exit, which won’t be completed until after the 2022 meeting of Twitter stockholders,  the company said its board of directors unanimously appointed CTO Parag Agrawal as CEO and member of the board, effective immediately. 

“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said in a lengthy statement posted to his Twitter account. 

Dorsey went on to say there were three reasons he believes now is the right time for him to depart the Twitterverse.

“The first is Parag becoming our CEO. The board ran a rigorous process considering all options and unanimously appointed Parag. He’s been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs. 

“Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. He’s curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware, and humble. He leads with heart and soul and is someone I learned from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone deep,” he continued.

“The second is Bret Taylor agreeing to become our board chair,” Dorsey said. “I asked Bret to join our board when I became CEO, and he’s been excellent in every way. He understands entrepreneurship, taking risks, companies at massive scale, technology, product, and he’s an engineer. All of the things the board and the company deserve right now. Having Bret in this leadership role gives me a lot of confidence in the strength of our board going forward.”

The third reason, Dorsey said, was the company employees. “We have a lot of ambition and potential on this team … and all of you have the potential to change the course of this company for the better.”

Dorsey co-founded Twitter in 2006 and took over as Twitter’s CEO after former chief executive Richard Costolo left the post in June 2015.

Bret Taylor, president and COO of Salesforce, is succeeding former Google CFO Patrick Pichette, who will remain on the board and continue to serve as chair of the audit committee.

Dan can be reached at dan@thewellnews.com and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.