Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has revealed he is ‘selecting the corporate over my ego’ and is stepping down from the $11billion firm – however insists he has not been pushed out.
The 45-year-old posted his resignation letter on Monday, by which he defined he had ‘labored laborious to make sure this firm can break free from its founding and founders’ earlier than patting himself on the again by noting ‘there aren’t many founders that select their firm over ego.
‘I do know we’ll show this was the correct transfer.’
Parag Agrawal, 45, was named the brand new CEO of the social media big early on Monday, after serving as the corporate’s chief know-how officer since 2017.
Dorsey, 45, was the CEO of the social media big when it was first based in 2006, and oversaw its startup. He returned to the highest job in 2015.
He has since confronted criticism from high Republican lawmakers for stifling free speech on Twitter and banning former President Donald Trump from the social media web site. There have additionally been requires tighter laws on what might be posted on social media websites, with some claiming the location spreads misinformation.
Many Republicans have celebrated his exit. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert tweeted: ‘Jack Dorsey is rumored to be stepping down as Twitter CEO. Nice. He is been a catastrophe,’ she tweeted.
‘Hopefully somebody who believes in free speech and our Structure will take the reins and reinstate the tons of Individuals unfairly banned.’
Jason Miller, CEO of GETTR, the free speech social media platform which fights cancel tradition, mentioned: ‘Dorsey’s strangling of free expression is why GETTR must exist, and for that I suppose we should always all be grateful. With out the crushing oppression and advantage signaling of the Massive Tech oligarchs, hundreds of thousands of individuals from all over the world would not be trying to find a brand new social media residence. Not like Dorsey, GETTR is right here to remain, and we are going to all the time shield the rights of individuals to talk their minds.’
There have been considerations about his time being divided between Twitter and funds firm Sq. Inc., each multimillion greenback corporations. He’ll stay CEO of that firm.
Throughout his tenure at Twitter, income for the social media big has grown sluggishly, with the New York Instances reporting {that a} inventory within the firm is now price roughly the identical because it was a 12 months in the past.
As the brand new CEO, Agrawal will now have extremely powerful targets to fulfill, after Twitter introduced earlier this 12 months it goals to double its annual income by 2023 and 315 million monetizable each day lively customers.

Dorsey first grew to become the CEO of Twitter when it was based in 2006. In an e-mail to workers posted to his Twitter on Monday, he mentioned he wished the corporate to maneuver past its founders

Dorsey introduced his resignation with a screengrab of an e-mail he despatched to workers
Dorsey was beforehand pushed out of his management place within the firm in 2008 amid claims he saved leaving work early to take pleasure in different pursuits like yoga and style design, and selected enhancements to the location over income.
In March 2011, Dorsey was named govt chairman, and when new CEO Dick Costolo introduced his resignation in June 2015, Dorsey returned.
He’ll now stay on Twitter’s board of administrators via his present time period, which runs via 2022, however will step apart as chairman, with present board member Bret Taylor set to imagine these duties. As soon as his time period ends, Dorsey informed employees, he’ll depart the corporate completely.
His departure comes after a serious bust up between Dorsey and Elliott Administration final 12 months, a hedge fund run by Paul Singer which has a considerable stake in Twitter, which ended within the hedge fund attempting to interchange him as CEO.

After information of his departure broke, shares of Twitter rose 11 p.c, however fell 6 p.c after he introduced his departure, to five p.c above buying and selling yesterday. By the afternoon, shares have been down down almost one share level

Twitter has lagged behind its rivals within the inventory marketplace for the previous three years
Whereas Dorsey managed to carry onto his position, the hedge fund was capable of drive Twitter to make a number of adjustments to its company construction. It was introduced on the time {that a} board committee could be fashioned to ‘consider the CEO succession plan,’ in keeping with The Verge.
In a press release after the announcement, Elliot Administration managing associate Jesse Cohn and senior portfolio supervisor Marc Steinberg mentioned: ‘Twitter is now executing towards an formidable multi-year plan to dramatically improve the corporate’s attain and worth, and we stay up for the following chapter of Twitter’s story.’
‘Having gotten to know each incoming Chairman Bret Taylor and incoming CEO Parag Agrawal, we’re assured that they’re the correct leaders for Twitter at this pivotal second for the corporate.’
After CNBC broke the information of Dorsey’s imminent departure, Twitter’s share worth soared by 11 p.c, whereas these of Sq. Inc, which Dorsey additionally serves because the CEO of, have been up 3 p.c.
By 10am, NASDAQ had introduced it might halt buying and selling on the social media big, however it quickly resumed after Dorsey’s announcement, dropping six p.c to be up solely 5 p.c from the day earlier than.
By the afternoon, shares of the social media big dipped almost 1 p.c.
On Sunday, Dorsey tweeted: ‘I really like Twitter.’

On Sunday, Dorsey tweeted that he loves Twitter

Bret Taylor, the president and chief working officer at Salesforce, was named the brand new chair of Twitter’s board on Monday
Within the e-mail to firm workers, Dorsey denied that he was pushed out of the corporate.
He wrote: ‘After virtually 16 years of getting a task at our firm from co-founder to CEO to chair to exec chair to interim CEO to CEO, I made a decision it is lastly time for me to depart.
‘There’s a whole lot of speak in regards to the significance of an organization being ‘founder led.’ In the end, I consider that is severely limiting and a single level of failure.
‘I’ve labored laborious to make sure this firm can break free from its founding and founders,’ he famous, citing Agrawal’s settlement to grow to be CEO and Bret Taylor agreeing to grow to be the board chair as a purpose he determined to step down now.
‘The board ran a rigorous course of contemplating all choices and unanimously appointed Parag,’ Dorsey wrote of Agrawal. ‘He is been my alternative for a while given how deeply he understands the corporate and its wants.
‘He is curious, probing, rational, artistic, demanding, self-aware and humble,’ Dorsey continued. ‘He leads with coronary heart and soul and is somebody I study from each day.
‘My belief in him as our CEO is bone deep.’
Dorsey additionally famous to his workers: ‘I would like you all to know this was my determination and I personal it. It was a tricky one for me, in fact. I really like this firm and all of you a lot. I am actually unhappy… but actually completely happy.
‘There aren’t many corporations that get to this stage,’ Dorsey continued. ‘And there aren’t many founders that select their firm over ego.
‘I do know we’ll show this was the correct transfer.’
In response, Agrawal additionally posted a screengrab of an e-mail he despatched to workers, writing: ‘Thanks Jack, I am honored and humbled, and I am grateful in your continued mentorship and your friendship.
‘I am grateful for the service that you just constructed, the tradition, soul and objective you fostered amongst us and for main the corporate via actually vital challenges.
‘I am grateful for the belief you’ve got put in me and in your continued partnership.’
Agrawal continued: ‘Staff, most of all, I am grateful for all of you, and it is you who encourage confidence in our future collectively.
‘I joined this firm 10 years in the past when there have been fewer than 1,000 workers,’ he wrote. ‘Whereas it was a decade in the past, these days really feel like yesterday to me.
‘I’ve walked in your sneakers, I’ve seen the ups and downs, the challenges and obstacles, the wins and the errors,’ Agrawal informed the staff. ‘However then and now, above all else, I see Twitter’s unbelievable influence, our continued progress and the thrilling alternatives forward of us.
‘Our individuals and our tradition are in contrast to something on this planet.
‘There isn’t any restrict to what we are able to do collectively,’ he mentioned, concluding by saying: ‘The world is watching us proper now, much more than they’ve earlier than.
‘Numerous persons are going to have a number of totally different views and opinions about as we speak’s information. It’s as a result of they care about Twitter and our future, and it is a sign that the work we do right here issues.
‘Let’s present the world Twitter’s full potential.’
Agrawal has been at Twitter since 2011 and served as CTO since 2017. He had been accountable for technique involving synthetic intelligence and machine studying and he led initiatives to make tweets in customers’ timelines extra related to them.
He’s an alumnus of IIT Bombay, the place he studied Pc Science and Engineering. He has additionally held internships at main tech corporations like Microsoft, Yahoo and AT&T.
Former workers informed the Wall Road Journal that Agrawal is a detailed good friend of Dorsey’s and so they have related objectives.
Bret Taylor, in the meantime, is the president and chief working officer at Salesforce. He has served on Twitter’s board since July 2016, and beforehand labored as a chief know-how officer at Fb and a Group Mission supervisor at Google, the place he co-created Google Maps, in keeping with his LinkedIn.
Following the announcement on Monday, Taylor tweeted his congratulations to Agrawal and thanked Dorsey for his management.
‘I am honored to be the following chair of Twitter’s board,’ he wrote, including: ‘Immediately is an thrilling day for Twitter and all of our stakeholders.’
The information of Dorsey’s departure comes after years of the social media mogul going through scrutiny for his obvious censorship of conservative voices, with some accusing him of bias.
In January, following the unrest on the Capitol, the corporate announced it had completely suspended former President Donald Trump citing ‘the danger of additional incitement of violence.’
He later defended the choice in a collection of tweets, writing: ‘I don’t have fun or really feel pleasure’ within the ban.
He added, ‘I consider this was the correct determination for Twitter. We confronted a rare and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public security.’
‘Offline hurt on account of on-line speech is demonstrably actual, and what drives our coverage and enforcement above all,’ he continued.
‘Having to take these actions fragment the general public dialog. They divide us. They restrict the potential for clarification, redemption, and studying. And units a precedent I really feel is harmful: the facility a person or company has over part of the worldwide public dialog,’ Dorsey wrote.
The corporate additionally confronted criticism after Twitter stopped customers from linking to tales alleging Joe Biden could also be corrupt forward of the 2020 election.
The row exploded after the New York Submit reported that Hunter Biden allegedly supplied to introduce his Ukrainian enterprise companions to his father, who was vice-president on the time, in trade for money.
The report was based mostly on an e-mail recovered from an deserted laptop computer that had been turned over to Donald Trump’s Republican allies.
However, regardless of showing in a revered newspaper, the social-media giants blocked customers from spreading the story, with Fb saying it needed to be fact-checked and Twitter saying it violated its guidelines on utilizing hacked materials.
The Twitter accounts of the newspaper, of the official Trump marketing campaign and of White Home press secretary Kayleigh McEnany have been even quickly banned from posting something in any respect due to the furor.

Parag Agrawal, the brand new CEO, tweeted his gratitude to Dorsey following the announcement

He additionally shared a screengrab of an e-mail he despatched to workers, outlining his way forward for the corporate

Bret Taylor additionally tweeted that he’s honored to be the following chair of Twitter’s board


Within the aftermath, McEnany accused the social media big of bias and censorship for under banning content material that ‘hurts the facet of the aisle that Silicon Valley prefers’.
Talking with Sean Hannity on Fox Information, McEnany accused the media big of permitting articles that accused Trump of collusion with Russia to be posted on its web site, regardless of the president being cleared throughout his impeachment trial earlier this 12 months.
She additionally revealed that the lock on the account could be everlasting until she deletes the tweets, describing herself as being ‘held at gunpoint’ by the platform.
‘This was a information story about emails and even the Biden marketing campaign doesn’t dispute the authenticity of the emails. That they had an opportunity as we speak and so they did not,’ she mentioned, knocking Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s declare that the Biden story had been restricted as a result of private data was revealed.
‘In the meantime, you’ve gotten the story about President Trump in The Atlantic the place you had greater than 20 sources on the report disputing the content material of the e-mail.
‘You’ve got loss of life to Israel that’s permitted on Twitter however not an e-mail which is reported by … the New York Submit, a reputable outlet, you aren’t allowed to share that data.
‘Make no mistake, if they will ban the press secretary of america for President Trump, they will ban any American citizen and that’s pathetic,’ McEnany added.
‘We’ve to carry Twitter accountable, and Fb too, it was banning the transmission of the story just because ideologically, it hurts the facet of the aisle that Silicon Valley prefers. It is unhappy, it is censorship. This isn’t America.’
Afterwards, Dorsey was compelled to apologize, describing the choice to dam hyperlinks to the story as ‘unacceptable’.

White Home Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany hit out at Twitter throughout an interview with Fox after they locked her private account over a tweet referencing a narrative about Joe Biden ‘s dealings along with his son Hunter’s enterprise associates within the Ukraine
Dorsey has additionally confronted criticism for apparently permitting misinformation to unfold on the social media web site – significantly in regards to the COVID vaccine and the January 6 assault on the Capitol.
Over the spring, he testified in entrance of the Home Power and Commerce Committee alongside Fb CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai to defend his firm.
‘On daily basis, hundreds of thousands of individuals all over the world tweet lots of of hundreds of thousands of tweets with one algorithm that applies to everybody and each tweet,’ Dorsey mentioned on the time. ‘We attempt to implement insurance policies impartially at scale.
‘We construct our insurance policies primarily across the promotion and safety of three elementary human rights – freedom of expression, security and privateness,’ he defined to Congress. ‘At instances, these rights can battle with each other.
‘As we develop, implement and implement our insurance policies, we should steadiness these rights.
‘Moreover, our insurance policies should be adaptable to adjustments in habits and evolving circumstances,’ he mentioned. ‘That’s the reason we should be clear, embrace procedural equity and selection, and shield privateness.’

Dorsey is seen testifying remotely to a Senate Judiciary Committee about censorship final 12 months
Conservatives now worry Agrawal could crack down on conservative voices much more.
He beforehand headed Twitter’s BlueSky mission, part of which included addressing algorithms and misinformation on the social media web site, which conservative information outlet City Corridor claims was weaponized to stop sure tales and narratives from gaining traction.
Jason Miller, CEO of conservative social media platform GETTR, additionally tweeted Monday that Agrawal could also be a much bigger risk to ‘free speech’ than his predecessor.
He wrote in a press release: ‘For years, Jack Dorsey has been the grasp of multitasking: censoring opinions he would not like, canceling customers, silencing considered one of America’s oldest newspapers, and unfairly influencing a presidential election.
‘Dorsey’s strangling of free expression is why GETTR must exist, and for that I suppose we should always all be grateful.’
And Neil Campling, a world analyst at Mirabaud Fairness Analysis, mentioned in a press release to DailyMail.com the announcement looks like the corporate ‘appeared to lose path, struggling to monetize their community and have been beneath stress from activist Elliott,’ referring to the hedge fund run by Paul Singer.
‘The preliminary response, inventory +10%, displays that Jack had most likely run his course and it was time for change,’ Campling mentioned. ‘The truth that the inventory reversed all of the positive aspects to commerce decrease is probably going reflective of disappointment over who’s now the CEO.
‘It’s the Chief Know-how Officer, so it is not an exterior rent which many wished,’ Campling mentioned. ‘As a substitute, it’s somebody who was accountable for the very course of that was changing into antiquated and outdated. Not look.’
Dorsey the crypto king? He was an aspiring clothier and dropped out of NYU earlier than co-founding Twitter price $11B – now Jack Dorsey has set his sights on a bitcoin mining enterprise
A long time earlier than Jack Dorsey grew to become a titan of the know-how business with not one however two CEO titles to his title and an eye-popping $12billion internet price, he was a younger man from St Louis who dabbled in modeling and aspired to grow to be a clothier, or a therapeutic massage therapist.
Now that Dorsey, 45, resigned as Twitter’s chief govt officer, the bearded billionaire with a penchant for nostril rings, tie-dye shirts, lengthy walks and fasting may have loads of time to pursue his new ardour: bitcoin-mining.
Dorsey nonetheless stays the CEO of Sq. Inc, the vastly profitable monetary funds firm that he co-founded in 2010.
In recent times, Dorsey has been utilizing his appreciable public platform to proselytize in regards to the deserves of cryptocurrency, significantly bitcoin.

Subsequent chapter: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey resigned on Monday after 16 years with the corporate he co-founded. He’s at the moment engaged on a brand new bitcoin-mining enterprise


Dorsey received his begin as a mannequin earlier than turning his consideration to pc programming. He dropped out of NYU a month shy of graduating
In July, he introduced that Sq. was launching a brand new bitcoin-based enterprise ‘with the only real aim of constructing it straightforward to create non-custodial, permission-less and decentralized monetary providers,’ he tweeted on the time to his 5.9million followers.
Sq. introduced again in February that bitcoin makes up 5 per cent of its holdings.
Sq., which is headquartered in San Francisco, has three enterprise strains: Money App, Sq. Vendor merchandise and the music-streaming service Tidal, which it acquired from Dorsey’s good friend Jay-Z in April.
Sq.’s latest mission, often called tbDEX, revolves across the concept of serving to individuals seamlessly convert fiat foreign money – government-issued foreign money that’s not backed by a commodity resembling gold or silver – into bitcoin with out having to undergo a number of platforms.
‘We suggest an answer that doesn’t depend on a federation to regulate permission or entry to the community; nor does it dictate the extent of belief required between counterparties,’ the corporate wrote in a press release issued final week.
Sq.’s new bitcoin enterprise seeks to ‘construct bridges between the fiat and cryptocurrency worlds,’ reported The Indian Specific.
Talking on the Bitcoin 2021 Conference, Dorsey mentioned he hopes bitcoin may also help result in ‘world peace.’
In April, the billionaire entrepreneur introduced the creation of a brand new charity fund, Star Small LLC, to assist in the combat towards the coronavirus pandemic. Dorsey mentioned he would inject $1billion of his private Sq. Inc fairness into the charity, or a few third of his whole fortune.
A few of the high beneficiaries of Dorsey’s largesse to date have included non-profit organizations based or championed by a bunch of A-listers, together with Beyonce and Jay-Z, Rihanna, Sean Penn, John Legend, Matt Damon and Bradley Cooper, as Bloomberg reported.
For instance, the charity CORE, which was based by Penn, who’s associates with Dorsey, acquired a $30million present from the tech tycoon final 12 months, whereas Rihanna’s group received a $20million capital injection.
Dorsey’s open-handed method to philanthropy has accomplished nothing to decrease his lavish way of life.
The tech guru’s spectacular actual property portfolio reportedly features a spectacular $21million cliffside mansion and a ore humble $10million residence, that are situated subsequent door to one another within the tony Sea Cliff part of San Francisco.
Dorsey’s latest property, which he spent lots of of hundreds of {dollars} renovating in 2019, options 5 bedrooms and three loos.
Though Dorsey is among the wealthiest males on this planet, occupying the 173rd spot on Forbes’ 2021 record of billionaires, he has revealed himself as surprisingly ascetic and disciplined.
Dorsey beforehand mentioned that he eats just one meal a day – dinner – and fasts on weekends.
‘The primary time I did it, like day three, I felt like I used to be hallucinating,’ Dorsey mentioned throughout a March 2019 interview on the podcast Ben Greenfield Health. ‘It was a bizarre state to be in. However as I did it the following two instances, it simply grew to become so obvious to me how a lot of our days are centered round meals and the way – the expertise I had was once I was fasting for for much longer, how time actually slowed down.’
Dorsey’s excessive self-care routine additionally contains ice baths to remain centered, 5 mile walks to work, and meditation periods to assist handle his stress ranges.
Dorsey will not be married and has no youngsters. He has principally managed to maintain his private life beneath wraps, though in recent times he has been romantically linked to fashions Raven Lyn Corneil and Flora Carter.
In 2019, it was reported that Dorsey was promoting a $4.5million Hollywood Hills mansion that he had purchased for Corneil, a 24-year-old Sports activities Illustrated mannequin, lower than a month after the pair broke up.
Dorsey was born and raised in St Louis in a Catholic household, the son of a Midwestern businessman working for a corporation promoting scientific devices and a homemaker.
In his youth, Dorsey dabbled in classic clothes modeling and created dispatch routing software program utilized by taxi corporations earlier than enrolling in College of Missouri-Rolla. After greater than two years, he transferred to New York College, however dropped out only one semester shy of graduating in 1997.
Dorsey conceived of the concept that would later flip into Twitter whereas nonetheless at NYU.
He moved to California to pursue a profession as a programmer and launched his personal firm offering web-based dispatch providers in 2000.
Round that point, Dorsey started exploring the thought of sending immediate messages in actual time to a small group of individuals, and approached a podcasting firm referred to as Odeo, the place he met his future Twitter co-founders, Biz Stone and Evan Williams.
Dorsey and Stone construct a prototype of Twitter in about two weeks, and the brand new service drew many customers at Odeo earlier than the corporate folded.
Twitter, initially often called twttr, was launched on March 21, 2006. Dorsey’s first-ever tweet merely learn: simply establishing my twttr,’
Seven months later, the fledgling social media firm’s co-founders bought the area title twitter.com for $7,000.
Dorsey took the reins of the corporate as CEO however continued pursuing his different passions, together with style design and yoga, reported CNBC.

Dorsey was born and raised in St Louis, Missouri, the son of a businessman and a homemaker

In his youth, Dorsey dabbled in style modeling. He’s pictured in a Diesel print marketing campaign

Dorsey (far proper) co-founded Twitter in 2006 after assembly his companions on the podcasting firm Odeo

On March 21, 2006, Dorsey despatched out his very first tweet, which learn: ‘simply establishing my twttr’

Dorsey, pictured with companions (L-R) Evan Williams and Biz Stone, was ousted as Twitter CEO in 2008

Dorsey returned at CEO in 2015. He’s pictured above testifying remotely throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee listening to titled, ‘Breaking the Information: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election’ on Capitol Hill on November 17, 2020
In his 2013 ebook Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Cash, Energy, Friendship, and Betrayal, writer Nick Bilton quoted Dorsey as telling his enterprise associate Noah Glass: ‘I’ll give up tech and grow to be a clothier.’
Dorsey would go away work at 6pm to take style design lessons at Attire Arts, a design college in San Francisco. His different hobbies included drawing and scorching yoga.
At one level, Twitter co-founder Williams took Dorsey apart and warned him: ‘You may both be a dressmaker or the CEO of Twitter. However you’ll be able to’t be each,’ in keeping with Bilton’s ebook.
Twitter went via a interval of strong development throughout its early years, however as its growth slowed the San Francisco firm started tweaking its format in a bid to make it simpler and extra participating to make use of.
In 2008, Dorsey was changed by Williams as CEO however stayed on with the corporate as chairman of the board. He returned to the position of CEO in 2015 after Dick Costolo resigned.
In 2020, Dorsey got here near being ousted a second time by Elliot Administration, an activist investor, amid considerations he had unfold himself too skinny by working each Twitter and Sq., and asserting a brief transfer to Africa.
Dorsey was capable of grasp onto the highest management place by providing Elliot and one other funding firm, Silver Lake, a seat on Twitter’s board.

In 2012, Dorsey snapped up this cliffside residence within the Sea Cliff part of San Francisco for $10million

In 2018, Dorsey expended his actual property portfolio by buying a house subsequent door to his residence for $21million to create a compound
In his goodbye letter addressed to Twitter workers on Monday, Dorsey mentioned he has ‘labored laborious to make sure this firm can break free from its founding and founders’ and that to focus an excessive amount of on whether or not corporations are led by their founders is ‘severely limiting.’
Dorsey wrote that he additionally can be leaving the corporate’s board round Might 2022, saying that he needs to ‘give house’ to new CEO Parag Agrawal to steer.
Agrawal holds a PhD in pc science from Stanford College and a bachelor’s diploma in pc science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Know-how in Bombay. He joined Twitter in 2011 as an engineer and has been chief know-how officer since 2017.
‘I am actually unhappy… but actually completely happy,’ Dorsey wrote within the word addressed to his ‘staff.’ ‘There aren’t many corporations that get to this stage. And there aren’t many founders that select their firm over their very own ego. I do know we’ll show this was the correct transfer.’