Jack Dorsey resigns as Twitter CEO, CTO Parag Agrawal to take over

Twitter Inc Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey on Monday announced that he has resigned from his role.

News broke earlier on Monday that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey might step down from his role. Dorsey had tweeted on Sunday - “I love Twitter”. Amidst all speculations Dorsey tweeted on Monday evening that he’s resigned. 

Dorsey’s tweet read - “not sure anyone has heard but, I resigned from Twitter”. His tweet also carried a screenshot of an email that Dorsey has written to the company. 

Dorsey wrote that he is stepping down from his role after 16 years. “There’a a lot of talk about the importance of a company being “founder-led.” Ultimately I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure. I’ve worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders.”

Dorsey added that there are three reasons why he thinks it is time to step done. First is Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Parag Agrawal becoming the next CEO. “My trust in him as out CEO is bone deep,” Dorsey wrote in the email. 

The second reason us Bret Taylor becoming the Twitter board chair. The third factor is “all of you”, Dorsey wrote. 

Dorsey is going to serve on the board through his term, till “May-ish” next year yo “help Parag and Bret in the transition”. 

“I love this service and the company…,” wrote Dorsey adding that “And there aren’t many founders that choose the company over their own ego.”

Dorsey’s mail has fuelled another whole round of speculations including how he might have quit Twitter for his love of Bitcoin, but it remains to be seen. 

Agrawal replied to Dorsey's tweet and letter with - "Deep gratitude for @jack and out entire team..." and shared the email he wrote to the company following Dorsey's mail.

"We recently updated our strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right. But our critical challenge is how we work to execute against it and deliver results - that's how we'll make Twitter the best it can be for our customers, shareholders, and for each of you," Agrawal wrote in his email.

"The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before. Lot's 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," he concluded.

Bret Taylor, Twitter's incoming Independent Board Chair said, "On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Jack for his visionary leadership and unrelenting dedication to Twitter since its founding. Jack returned to Twitter and turned the Company around at the most critical time. The progress since then has been nothing short of incredible. Jack has given the world something invaluable and we will continue to carry it forward."

"Parag understands Twitter and appreciates the Company's unique potential. He has been instrumental in tackling our most important priorities, including accelerating our development velocity, and I know he'll hit the ground running to strengthen execution and deliver results. The Board has the utmost confidence in Parag," Taylor added.

Dorsey's resignation got Twitter Spaces buzzing about what might have lead to him stepping down and what Agrawal's new role will mean for the company. While most are wondering why Dorsey decided to step down, Twitter spaces have had discussions about what it will mean for the company to have a CEO who was the CTO till now.

Dorsey has been quite vocal about his support for Bitcoin and while Twitter CFO Ned Segal is not a proponent. Speculations have it that Agrawal, as a tech person, is going to be a crypto supporter too and it remains to be seen how the platform is going to handle that.

"So much more for us to do and thrilled Parag will lead us," tweeted Segal.

There's also been a lot of discussion about Agrawal's political leanings and how it might affect how the platform deals with political tweets and misinformation.

 

Also Read: Meet Parag Agrawal: The IIT Bombay graduate who is now the CEO of Twitter