In a stunning development, Twitter co-founder — Jack Dorsey — announced publicly Monday, via the social media company he founded, that he would be resigning from his position as Chief Executive Officer of the company. The price of Twitter stock traded down less than a percentage point on the news.
According to Dorsey’s statement, Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal starts as CEO, effective immediately. Dorsey went on to note in his resignation message that he will continue to be a member of the Twitter board of directors until his term expires in May 2022. He further stated that he will not stay on as a board member or as the chairman beyond that timeframe to give the new CEO of Twitter “…the space he needs to lead…free of its founder’s influence or direction.” The image of Dorsey’s Twitter message is posted here.
His message opened with the following explanation as to why he believed it’s time to step down from a day-to-day leadership role at Twitter.
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“After almost 16 years of having a role at our company….from co-founder to CEO to Chair to Exec Chair to interim-CEO to CEO…I decided it’s finally time for me to leave. Why? There’s a lot of talk about the importance of a company being ‘founder-led.’ Ultimately I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure,”Dorsey wrote in his statement.
He went on to explain that he was not forced to leave and the decision was his alone.
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“I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it. It was a tough one for me, of course. I love this service and company…and all of you so much. I’m really sad…yet really happy. There aren’t many companies that get to this level. And there aren’t many founders that choose their company over their ego. I know we’ll prove this was the right move,”stated Dorsey’s note.
The message was emailed to all Twitter employees prior to his decision to also tweet it to his nearly 6 million followers. While not mentioned in the Twitter announcement, it seems that Dorsey intends to continue as CEO of digital payment platform, Square.
In recent years, Dorsey has been one of the most vocal and ardent supporters of Bitcoin. He led the initiative that equipped Twitter users to be able to send Bitcoin “tips” fee-free to anyone they follow on the platform. He also recently laid the groundwork and issued a white paper for Square to launch its own decentralized exchange for Bitcoin trading. Last June, Dorsey famously said that if he wasn’t running Twitter and Square – he would be working on Bitcoin.
On The Flipside
- Dorsey has been a constant supporter of Bitcoin and blockchain. Even though he’s a bit of a Bitcoin maximalist he supports the underlying promise of blockchain and crypto technology to bring about economic equality for all.
Why You Should Care?
Let’s hope he continues to be an advocate for Bitcoin and blockchain. Perhaps he may even take a liking to other alt coins!
