Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is poised to step down from his position, according to CNBC this morning. Dorsey personally verified the reports shortly after, and Twitter published a news release with further information. Dorsey’s replacement will be Parag Agrawal, who started Twitter as a programmer in 2011 and has been the company’s CTO since 2017. “There’s a lot of discussion about how important it is for a business to be ‘founder-led,'” Dorsey said in an email to Twitter employees, which he also tweeted. “In the end, I think it’s highly restrictive and a single point of failure.” I’ve put in a lot of effort to guarantee that this firm can break free from its founders.”
Dorsey is the CEO of both Twitter and Square, a financial startup that provides payment, cash management, and transferring services to both consumers and businesses. Dorsey will continue on Twitter’s Board of Directors until his term expires at the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders, according to Twitter. Bret Taylor, Salesforce’s president, and COO, has chosen the new Chairman of the Board, following Patrick Pichette, who will stay on the Board and continue to head the Audit Committee, according to the business.
One of the reasons Dorsey felt comfortable stepping aside was Taylor’s accession to the board. Taylor “understands entrepreneurship, taking chances, organizations at tremendous size, technology, product, and he’s an engineer,” according to Dorsey.
Because of the leadership changes, Twitter stated there are no changes to the company’s previously published fourth quarter and full-year 2021 outlooks, as well as its 2023 targets. After giving up some early gains in the initial minutes of the week’s trading cycle, Twitter’s stock climbed on the news that Dorsey may step down, trading up 6.1 percent as of the time of writing.
For the sake of comparison, Twitter is currently valued at roughly $40 billion. To be clear, this is not a tiny sum, but it is less than half the value of Square, which is valued at slightly over $99 billion on the open market. It takes a lot of effort to run a public firm. Running two at the same time is unusual and, we assume, not easy. This morning, Square shares are also trading upward, but to a lesser extent. Twitters CEO’s split time has sparked investor discontent. Square affirmed to TechCrunch that Dorsey’s job, as well as everything else relating to leadership, strategy, or financial outlook, has not changed.
Dorsey wrote to his team, “I want you all to know that this was my choice and I own it.” “There aren’t many entrepreneurs that prioritize their company over their ego.” I’m confident we’ll show that this was the proper decision.” “My faith in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is profound,” he added in a statement hailing his replacement. “Over the last ten years, his work has been transformative.” I owe him a debt of gratitude for his talent, heart, and soul. It is now his turn to lead.”
Agrawal has been in charge of Twitter’s technical strategy and has spearheaded efforts to boost development velocity during his tenure there. On Twitter, he also improved the status of machine learning. Prior to named CTO, Parag named Twitter’s first Distinguished Engineer for his contributions to revenue and consumer engineering, including his role in the business’s re-acceleration of audience growth in 2016 and 2017, according to the firm.
The executive has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
In a statement, Agrawal said, “I want to thank the Board for their trust in my leadership and Jack for his continuous guidance, support, and cooperation.” “I am very motivated by the prospects ahead, and I look forward to building on what we have done under Jack’s leadership.” We will provide significant value for our consumers and shareholders as we redefine the future of public discourse by continuing to enhance our performance.”
In a tweet, he also stated that he is dedicated to executing Twitter’s strategy and meeting the business’s “ambitious goals,” but that the firm will face challenges in how it executes its plans and delivers results. On Tuesday, he said, Twitter would have an all-hands meeting featuring a Q&A session for staff.
