Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, has stepped down from his role at the company. In a tweet on Tuesday, Dorsey said he was leaving after 16 years of co
Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, has stepped down from his role at the company.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Dorsey said he was leaving after 16 years of co-founding the company and occupying the positions of CEO, chairman, executive chairman and interim-CEO.
The 45-year-old billionaire said he had come to realize that it is “severely limiting” for a company to continue to be founder-led, describing it as “a single point of failure.”
He announced that the company’s former CTO, Parag Agrawal would take over as CEO immediately.
While noting that it was his wish was for Twitter Inc to be “the most transparent company in the world, Dorsey gave the following as the 3 main reasons he was stepping as the company’s CEO.
“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 learn from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone deep.
“The second is Bret Taylor agreeing to become our board chair. 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. You have no idea how happy this makes me!
“The third is all of you. We have a lot of ambition and potential on this team. Consider this: Parag started here as an engineer who cared deeply about our work and now he’s our CEO (I also had a similar path…he did it better!). This alone makes me proud. I know that Parag will be able to channel this energy best because he’s lived it and knows what it takes. All of you have the potential to change the course of this company for the better. I believe this with all my heart!”
He added that he would serve on the board of the company for the rest of his term, until sometime in May, after which he would leave the board and the company completely. He said he decided to do this to give Parag the space to lead.
“Parag is CEO starting today. I’m going to serve on the board through my term (May-ish) to help Parag and Bret with the transition. And after that…I’ll leave the board. Why not stay or become chair? I believe it’s really important to give Parag the space he needs to lead. And back to my previous point, I believe it’s critical a company can stand on its own, free of its founder’s influence. or direction.
“I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it. It was a tough one for me, of course. I love this service and company…and all of you so much. I’m really sad…yet really happy. There aren’t many companies that get to this level. And there aren’t many founders that choose their company over their own ego. I know we’ll prove this was the right move.
“We’ll have an all-hands meeting tomorrow at 9:05 AM Pacific to discuss it all. Until then, thank you all for the trust you’ve placed in me, and for the openness to build that trust in Parag and yourselves. I love you all.”
