Today, Jack Dorsey officially confirmed that he is resigning as CEO of Twitter. The company that he founded, which originally forced him out in 2008 only to have him make a return in 2015, will now be overseen by its current CTO Parag Agrawal who will become CEO effective immediately.
Dorsey shared a company-wide email on Twitter in which he praises Agrawal and the new board chair, Bret Taylor.
The email to employees also confirms that Dorsey plans to remain on the board until his term is up, which means he’ll be sticking around until “May-ish.” Dorsey’s confirmation of his retirement from Twitter comes after CNBC reported the news earlier today.
“I want to thank the Board for their confidence in my leadership and Jack for his continued mentorship, support, and partnership,” said Agrawal in a press statement. “I look forward to building on everything we have accomplished under Jack’s leadership and I am incredibly energized by the opportunities ahead. By continuing to improve our execution, we will deliver tremendous value for our customers and shareholders as we reshape the future of public conversation.”
In a follow-up email posted to Twitter, Agrawal expressed his excitement for his new position and focused on ensuring his employees will stick around for the ride ahead.
Team, most of all, I’m grateful for all of you, and it’s you who inspire confidence in our future together. I joined this company 10 years ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees.
While it was a decade ago, those days feel like yesterday to me. I’ve walked in your shoes, I’ve seen the ups and downs, the challenges and obstacles, the wins and the mistakes. But
then and now, above all else, I see Twitter’s incredible impact, our continued progress, and the exciting opportunities ahead of us.Our purpose has never been more important. Our people and our culture are unlike anything in the world. There is no limit to what we can do together.
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. I want you to #LoveWhere YouWork and also love how we work together for the greatest possible impact.
How different Twitter will become under Agrawal is unclear, but it seems Dorsey’s removal will leave plenty of space for the new CEO to take the company in his own direction. Dorsey noted in his announcement that he believes “it’s really important to give Parag the space he needs to lead. And back to my previous point [regarding founder exits], I believe it’s critical a company can stand on its own, free of its founder’s influence or direction.”
Parag Agrawal was first hired by Twitter in 2011, initially as an ads engineer. Since then, he was promoted to CTO and has been a driving force for the company in its efforts in cryptocurrency and decentralization. How those efforts will continue to play out remains unclear with his promotion, but as of now, it seems that the crypto team at Twitter will continue to report direct to Agrawal.
Expectations for Agrawal couldn’t be any higher from every political side, those in the crypto world, and folks down to the common Twitter user. This will mark the first time Dorsey hasn’t had significant influence over Twitter’s important decision making, product development, and management within the company. That’s not to mention the complete lack of influence from its co-founders, now with the two biggest names out of the company’s creators out of the picture.
It’s likely that it’ll take a while before any major changes are made at Twitter in terms of its direction and policies. That being said, we have less than six months until Dorsey’s completely out of the picture, so expect some news sooner than later.
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