Yahoo Finance Jack Dorsey resigns from Twitter; Parag Agrawal to take over as CEO
Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has resigned from his position at the social media platform.
Chief Technology Officer of Twitter, Parag Agrawal will be taking over as the new CEO.
This change in leadership is effective immediately.
"I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. 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", Dorsey told Twitter staff in an email.
Dorsey will stay on the board of the social media company until his term expires in 2022, Twitter said in a statement.
not sure anyone has heard but,
I resigned from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G5tUkSSxkl— jack⚡️ (@jack) November 29, 2021
Dorsey had earlier stepped down as CEO of Twitter in 2008, but returned to the company in 2015. In the interim, Dick Costolo took on the role of CEO.
The 45-year-old co-founder of Twitter, who has lately taken an active interest in crypto currency, is also the head of payments company Square Inc.
In 2020, activist investment firm Elliott Management suggested Dorsey should leave his position at Twitter as his dual CEO role was interfering in his ability to focus on the social media platform.
When the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to spread and the outlook for Twitter was shaky, the social media giant arrived at a deal with Elliott Management to keep Dorsey in place.
Dorsey has overseen the company in times of severe pressure from politicians and activists to take a more proactive role in moderating hate speech, misinformation and other forms of objectionable content from political leaders.
During Donald Trump's presidency, he did not shy away from banning the former president from Twitter. He also told the Congress that he takes some responsibility for the online organising that led to the January 6 riot at Capitol Hill.
Twitter recently introduced a program to crowd source fact-checking misinformation.
As Twitter experimented with new innovations in social media, Dorsey has been at the helm of the company. He has been instrumental in growing daily active users to 211 million.
Who will be the new Twitter CEO?
Indian-origin software engineer Parag Agarwal, who became chief technology officer on March 8, 2018 kicked off his technology education at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
He joined Twitter in October 2011 as a distinguished software engineer after completing his PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University. He worked as a research intern for Microsoft, Yahoo!, and AT&T Labs while studying at Stanford.
Agrawal took to Twitter to thank Dorsey for his continued mentorship and friendship.
He tweeted, "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.
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
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