Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, is stepping down as CEO, and the company’s chief technology officer, Parag Agrawal, will take over as the billionaire CEO’s replacement. Agrawal’s responsibilities include setting guidelines for regulating abusive and deceptive content, among other things.
The billionaire CEO resigned his position in a tweet, further mentioning, “I want you to know that this is my decision,” Dorsey wrote, adding that Agrawal “has been my pick for some time, given how completely he understands the company and its needs.”
Dorsey co-founded Twitter in 2006 and was named CEO the following year. However, two years later, two other co-founders, Ev Williams, and board member Fred Wilson pushed him out as CEO. Dorsey returned as CEO in 2015 after years of stagnant growth and a falling stock price since the company’s IPO in 2013.
Dorsey was also the CEO of Square, a payments processing startup he created after leaving Twitter at the time. Instead of leaving Square, he made the rare step of remaining as the company’s CEO. Right from the beginning, powerful investors in both firms were unhappy with the arrangement, and in recent months, several have openly called for it to be discontinued.
Square’s stock has increased by more than 2,300% since it went public in 2015. Twitter, on the other hand, hasn’t even doubled in that time.
In a letter to clients, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh stated, “Jack Dorsey’s departure as CEO is a good strategic move that could help Twitter hasten user growth and broaden advertisers beyond huge businesses.” “We expect Twitter may pursue agreements and focus on partnerships to boost its… posture, given its larger exposure to live sports and entertainment than other social media platforms.”
Source: CBC News
