Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Stepping Down, Handing Reins To CTO Parag Agrawal – Update

Dade Hayes
·3 min read
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UPDATED with official confirmation. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is stepping down from the exec post but will remain a board member at the social media firm until 2022.

Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief technology officer, was named Dorsey’s successor. A Twitter staffer for more than a decade, he has been CTO since 2017.

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The change at the top, which had been reported earlier this morning by CNBC and The New York Times, was confirmed in a press release. In addition to the CEO shuffle, Bret Taylor was named chairman of the board, succeeding Patrick Pichette, who will remain a member of the board and chair of its audit committee.

“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said. “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 has been CEO of both Twitter and Square, his digital payments firm. Maintaining both roles has drawn criticism from some investors and company observers.

Taylor, on behalf of the board, thanked Dorsey for his “visionary leadership and unrelenting dedication to Twitter since its founding.” He noted Dorsey’s return to the company as CEO in 2015, whereupon he “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.”

Agrawal has the board’s “utmost confidence,” Taylor added.

“I want to thank the board for their confidence in my leadership and Jack for his continued mentorship, support, and partnership,” said Agrawal. “I look forward to building on everything we have accomplished under Jack’s leadership and I am incredibly energized by the opportunities ahead.”

PREVIOUSLY:

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey plans to step down from his executive post soon, according to a report this morning by CNBC.

Dorsey also serves as CEO of digital payments firm Square, and that unusual dual role has caused friction with some investors over the years. In 2015, after a years-long absence from the executive suite at Twitter, Dorsey returned to the corner office. Last year, Elliott Management, the activist firm that had previously targeted AT&T, agitated for Dorsey’s removal as CEO before ultimately reaching a settlement with the company’s management.

David Faber, a longtime anchor on CNBC’s Squawk Box, said the move is expected to happen in the “near term” but conceded he didn’t know “much else” about the situation. He cited “many people” familiar with Dorsey and the company as sources.

Shares in the social media giant climbed more than 3% to about $48.68 on the news on higher-than-normal trading volume. In the minutes after CNBC aired the report, the stock jumped more than 10% before buying subsided.

After recording big gains in 2020, Twitter stock has moved sideways in 2021 as the company has grappled with advertising volatility and also sought to define its content moderation strategies. Twitter banned a number of users, including former president Donald Trump, for posts it said encouraged violence or spread misinformation. Dorsey was among the tech company CEOs called to testify before Congress this year about the role of tech platforms in the January 6 attack as well as radicalization in general.

Twitter reported strong financial results in the third quarter, though litigation charges ate into its profits. As of September 30, it said it had 211 million daily active users.

Here is most of Faber’s report:

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