Jack Dorsey steps down as Twitter CEO, replacement named
UPDATE: Jack Dorsey is officially out as Twitter CEO, with the current CTO Parag Agrawal stepping up to the big chair.
Dorsey has resigned his position at the company he founded and returned to run in 2015. It’s not clear if there was internal pressure for the change or Dorsey has simply decided to move on.
In a statement, Dorsey said: “I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. 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 will, however, remain on the board until his term expires in 2022, Twitter says.
Original story continues below…
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is rumoured to be stepping down from his position as CEO of the company.
CNBC claims to have learned from sources that Dorsey will leave his position some 15 years on from setting Twitter up and posting the first ever tweet.
It’s as yet unknown who would take over the CEO position, or why Dorsey plans to step down. However, he has been under considerable pressure of late.
Besides Twitter, Dorsey also serves as CEO of the digital payment company Square. Billionaire investor Paul Singer and other Twitter stakeholders have been putting pressure on him to step down from one of these positions.
Twitter shares rose 11% after this report was published.
Dorsey has been forced out of Twitter once before, back in 2008. After setting up Square in 2009, however, he returned to the position of Twitter CEO in 2015.
The Twitter CEO is believed to have a fortune of some $12 billion. In April he vowed to give away $1 billion of that fortune to Covid-19 relief and other causes.
Twitter has been taking steps to mitigate the toxic level of discourse that’s become associated with the platform in recent times. Back in September, the company launched Safety Mode, which automatically blocks accounts tweeting out hateful or abusive comments.
It’s also said to be working on a feature that automatically archives tweets after a certain time has passed, thus avoiding the issue of old tweets coming back to haunt you.
After a month, three months, or an entire year, only the original tweeter would be able to see these tweets.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
